Singapore auctions assets seized in $2.37B money laundering case

Singapore has opened online bidding for the first 624 luxury items forfeited in its S$3 billion, or roughly $2.37 billion, money laundering case.

Hotlotz said in its auction announcement that bidding for both sales began on Sep. 7. The Singapore auction house was appointed by Deloitte Singapore to sell forfeited luxury goods through a series of 15 auctions running from September 2026 to May 2027.

The first sale covers handbags and accessories and closes on Sep. 20. A separate jewellery sale closes on Sep. 27. According to Channel News Asia’s report on the sales, the two groups of items carry a combined pre-sale estimate of S$2.9 million to S$3.9 million, or about $2.29 million to $3.08 million at the exchange rate used in the headline.

Singapore auction opens to bidders abroad

Hotlotz said the auctions are open to participants globally, giving buyers outside Singapore access to the catalogues and online bidding. Each bidder must register separately for the sales they want to enter and complete an identity check. The auction house does not accept bids in person, by telephone, or through an agent acting on a bidder’s instructions.

Interested buyers can inspect the items at Le Freeport in the Changi North area before bidding closes, but Hotlotz requires a confirmed appointment. Viewing slots are limited and available to registered participants on a first-come, first-served basis; walk-ins are not allowed.

Handbags and accessories will be on view from Sep. 14 to Sep. 19. Jewellery can be inspected over the same dates and again from Sept. 21 to Sept. 26, according to the auction schedule.

Among the 338 handbag and accessory lots is a limited-edition Louis Vuitton bag made with artist Yayoi Kusama. Hotlotz estimates the yellow-and-black pumpkin bag at S$12,000 to S$16,000. Its catalogue also lists a customised Louis Vuitton jewellery trunk, Dior bags and several Chanel pieces.

The 286 jewellery lots include a 15.02-carat yellow diamond ring with an estimate of S$200,000 to S$300,000. Hotlotz has also listed a Hermès diamond bracelet at S$150,000 to S$200,000 and a Bulgari emerald-and-diamond necklace at S$60,000 to S$80,000. Those figures are estimates for individual lots, not final sale prices.

Later auctions are scheduled to include Hermès handbags and watches by makers including Patek Philippe, Richard Mille, and Rolex. Hotlotz said it will release the catalogues for those sales closer to their bidding dates.

How the money laundering case reached the auction stage

The sales follow Singapore’s August 2023 raids against a group suspected of moving proceeds from overseas crime through the country. As crypto.news reported after the raids, police initially arrested 10 foreign nationals and identified about S$1 billion in assets that had been seized, frozen or placed under disposal restrictions. The assets included properties, vehicles, bank accounts, and documents linked to cryptocurrency accounts.

The value tied to the investigation later rose to more than S$3 billion. That case-wide figure is separate from the estimated value of the goods now offered in the first two auctions, which represent only a small part of the assets surrendered to Singapore.

In a November 2024 account of the forfeitures, the Singapore Police Force said all 10 people arrested in the raids had been convicted and given prison terms of 13 to 17 months. About S$944 million in assets linked to them had been surrendered to the state. The police also said 15 of another 17 people linked to the probe had agreed to surrender about S$1.85 billion in assets under court orders.

Earlier, Channel News Asia reported on the asset process, citing police statements that non-cash property would be sold through channels such as auctions. According to that account, proceeds from those sales and forfeited cash go into Singapore’s consolidated fund.

USDT transactions appear in the case records

The investigation was not confined to cryptocurrency, but official records describe how USDT was used by people connected to it. In a 2025 account of a banker’s conviction, Singapore police said former Citibank relationship manager Wang Qiming helped convicted offender Su Baolin arrange the sale of USDT for Singapore dollars in December 2020.

Police said a first tranche of 499,980 USDT produced S$657,980 that was deposited into Su’s bank account. A second tranche of 364,908 USDT was sold for S$481,678 in cash, which Wang collected for Su. Wang was sentenced to 24 months in prison after being convicted of offences that included forgery and money laundering; police said the cash was reasonably suspected of representing benefits from unlawful remote gambling.

Su Baolin separately received a 14-month prison sentence in 2024. Channel News Asia’s court report said he had pleaded guilty to charges involving suspected criminal proceeds, including possession of S$777,220.50 in cash and a Toyota Alphard bought for S$332,281.26. Investigators found that gambling winnings had been sent to his cryptocurrency wallet in USDT and that he had earned about 4 million USDT from operating or supervising illegal gambling websites overseas.

A separate cryptocurrency connection concerns Su Weiyi, who shared business interests with another convicted offender, Wang Shuiming. The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project found through corporate records that the two had been involved in companies together. Hong Kong authorities accused Su Weiyi of theft following the collapse of crypto exchange Atom Asset Exchange, but OCCRP said he had not been implicated in Singapore’s money laundering investigation. Su Weiyi has contested the Hong Kong charges.

For U.S. readers considering the sale, Hotlotz’s published terms provide the direct connection: overseas participants can register for the auctions, subject to the same identity checks and online-only bidding process as Singapore-based buyers.