Singapore pursues dishonesty and market misconduct under general statutes. The articles collected here explain cheating, criminal breach of trust, fraud under section 424A of the Penal Code 1871, computer misuse, money laundering under the 1992 Act, unlicensed activity, market misconduct and corporate and officer liability. They also describe the enforcement agencies and how an investigation actually runs. The cases concern tokens, and the offences are general.
Singapore has no digital-asset criminal statute. The Penal Code 1871 supplies the dishonesty offences, with a standalone offence of fraud since 2020. The Computer Misuse Act 1993 covers unauthorised access. The Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act 1992 supplies the laundering offences and the confiscation machinery.
Part 12 of the Securities and Futures Act 2001 prohibits false trading, market manipulation, misleading statements and insider trading.
An officer who consented to or connived in a company's offence can be liable alongside the company under the regulatory statutes. Internal controls and a clear response plan therefore matter to the people at the top.
Where money has been lost, the book explains the civil tools in its sections on the interim toolkit and on the first hours of tracing, together with the agencies that investigate.
Start with the statutory architecture, corporate and officer liability or the map of enforcement.
Enforcement: Corporate Liability, Deferred Prosecution Agreements and Cross-Border Cooperation
On 24 April 2026 the High Court of Singapore approved the first deferred prosecution agreement, between the Public Prosecutor and Seatrium Limited. Read more Singapore · Trade Finance and RiskCorporate criminal liability
Singapore’s criminal law does not contain a general provision dedicated to the criminal liability of companies. It reaches companies through definitions. Read more Singapore · Trade Finance and RiskDeferred prosecution agreements
Singapore’s first major resolution with a company for foreign bribery came before the deferred prosecution regime was available. Read more Singapore · Trade Finance and RiskMutual legal assistance and extradition
The Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act 2000 (MACMA) is the principal statute for cooperation with foreign prosecutors. Read more Singapore · Trade Finance and RiskAsset recovery and confiscation
The CDSA allows the court, on the application of the Public Prosecutor, to make confiscation orders against persons convicted of drug dealing or serious offences. Read more Singapore · Trade Finance and RiskParallel proceedings in several jurisdictions
The Keppel case of 2017 is Singapore’s leading example of a coordinated resolution with several states. Read more Singapore · Trade Finance and RiskEnforcement: Corporate Liability, Deferred Prosecution Agreements and Cross-Border Cooperation: practical consequences
For a company based in Singapore, the main lesson of the Keppel and Seatrium cases is that self-reporting and cooperation determine the outcome. Both companies received a non-trial resolution. Read more Singapore · Trade Finance and RiskComparison with Geneva and other centres
Switzerland introduced corporate criminal liability on 1 October 2003 through what is now Article 102 of the Criminal Code. The Swiss rule is narrower and more specific than the Singapore approach. Read more Singapore · Trade Finance and RiskEnforcement: Corporate Liability, Deferred Prosecution Agreements and Cross-Border Cooperation: summary
Singapore law treats companies as persons capable of committing almost any offence and attributes to them the conduct of directors, employees and agents. Read more Singapore · EnforcementSingapore VI: Enforcement, Insolvency and Dispute Resolution
The five preceding Singapore parts describe how digital assets are owned, licensed, taxed and kept clean. This part describes what happens when something goes wrong. Read more Singapore · EnforcementThe statutory architecture
Singapore has no digital-asset criminal statute. Offences involving tokens are prosecuted under general legislation drafted for other purposes and read, with some strain, onto a new asset class. Read more Singapore · EnforcementCheating
Cheating under s 415 requires deception of a person and inducement by that deception, followed either by a dishonest or fraudulent delivery of property or by a damaging act or omission of the person… Read more Singapore · EnforcementCriminal breach of trust and misappropriation
Criminal breach of trust under s 405 requires that a person was entrusted with property or with dominion over it. Read more Singapore · EnforcementFraud under section 424A
The Criminal Law Reform Act 2019 introduced s 424A, modelled on the English Fraud Act 2006, in force from 1 January 2020. Read more Singapore · EnforcementComputer misuse
The Computer Misuse Act 1993 criminalises unauthorised access to computer material (s 3), access with intent to commit an offence (s 4) and unauthorised modification (s 5). Read more Singapore · EnforcementMoney laundering under the CDSA
Part 6 of the CDSA contains the laundering offences. Read more Singapore · EnforcementUnlicensed activity
Section 5 of the Payment Services Act 2019 prohibits carrying on a business of providing any type of payment service in Singapore without a licence or exemption. Read more Singapore · EnforcementMarket misconduct
Part 12 of the Securities and Futures Act prohibits false trading and market rigging (s 197), market manipulation (s 198) and false or misleading statements (s 199). Read more Singapore · EnforcementCorporate and officer liability
Singapore statutes use a consistent technique for attributing offences to companies and their officers. Read more Singapore · EnforcementFour cases that shaped Singapore practice
Terraform Labs Pte Ltd was a Singapore company. Read more Singapore · EnforcementComparative summary
The table shows a system that punishes dishonesty more heavily than Switzerland and that reaches negligent participation in laundering, which Swiss law leaves to administrative sanction. Read more Singapore · EnforcementThe map of enforcement
A Swiss lawyer accustomed to cantonal prosecutors, a federal Office of the Attorney General with a defined catalogue of competences and a separate FINMA enforcement division will find Singapore's… Read more Singapore · EnforcementThe Commercial Affairs Department
CAD is the principal white-collar crime investigation agency. Read more Singapore · EnforcementThe Suspicious Transaction Reporting Office
STRO receives the suspicious transaction reports that the CDSA requires of every person in the course of business, together with cash movement reports and cash transaction reports. Read more Singapore · EnforcementMAS Enforcement
CPIB reports directly to the Prime Minister's Office and investigates offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1960. Its relevance to digital assets is narrow but real. Read more Singapore · EnforcementThe Anti-Scam Command and retail fraud
The great majority of crypto-related police reports in Singapore are retail scams. Read more Singapore · EnforcementInvestigating agencies: the Attorney-General's Chambers
AGC's Crime Division prosecutes, its Financial and Technology Crime Division handles complex commercial cases and its International Affairs Division is the central authority for mutual legal… Read more Singapore · EnforcementMutual legal assistance
The Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act 2000 (MACMA) governs Singapore's incoming and outgoing requests. Read more Singapore · EnforcementHow a crypto investigation actually runs
A typical CAD investigation into a collapsed platform begins with a report, often from a creditor, followed by a request for documents to the company and its officers. Read more Singapore · EnforcementInvestigating agencies: Comparative observations
Three differences between the Swiss and Singapore investigative systems have practical consequences for structuring. Read more