SINGAPORE: Kho Bin Kai, the former son-in-law of local business tycoon Peter Lim, was sentenced to two years and 10 months in prison and fined $40,000 on Tuesday (May 9) for operating an illegal gambling syndicate.
Kho pleaded guilty to five charges involving remote gambling and buying luxury watches using the proceeds of crime, while the other eight charges were taken into consideration during the sentencing.
The case has attracted attention in Singapore due to Kho’s high-profile family connections.
Peter Lim is a prominent businessman with interests in various industries, including real estate, healthcare, and sports.
His daughter, Kim Lim, is a well-known socialite and entrepreneur who runs a successful fashion business.
Kim Lim and Kho’s high-profile wedding in 2016 was widely covered by the media.
Kho fathered a son with Kim Lim, but the couple divorced four years later, in 2020, after Kho’s crimes came to light.
The court heard that Kho’s involvement in illegal gambling started the year he married Kim Lim. In 2016, he met a man named “Ah Leong” and began to assist him in managing illegal gambling websites. Later, he took over other illegal gambling websites and used the proceeds to buy two luxury watches.
However, he was arrested in July 2019 during a police crackdown on illegal online gambling activities and later admitted to possessing the main account numbers and passwords of multiple gambling websites.
The judge granted Kho a two-week delay before starting his sentence. Besides being jailed and fined, Kho also forfeited the two luxury watches, worth a total of $60,000, that he bought with proceeds from his illegal gambling activities.