LEE Chong Sen, who ran popular Penang-based foreign exchange trading scheme JJ Poor to Rich, claimed trial for providing false information on the company JJ Global Network. 

He was charged at the Butterworth Sessions Court this morning under Section 364(2) of the Companies Act for allegedly providing a false statement to the Companies Commission of Malaysia at the Seberang Jaya KWSP office on December 15, 2016. 

If found guilty, he faces not more than 10 years’ jail or a maximum fine of RM250,000, or both.

Judge Noor Aini Yusof allowed bail at RM6,000 with one surety, and set April 12 for document submissions and case management. 

Deputy public prosecutors Faizal Mahdi Mahmud and Mohd Fairuz Othman had asked for a RM10,000 bail.  But Lee’s counsels, G. Jaya Prem and Nick Tan Meow Khoon, appealed for a lower bail, stressing that Lee had been cooperative and had no intention to abscond. 

“He has been cooperative with CCM from the beginning. He presented himself to the agency every time he was told to give his statement.

“He is also earning between RM3,000 and RM5,000 a month from freelance work, and has to provide for his family, including his grandmother. His father is not working,” Prem said. 

Lee, 29, who is better known as Johnson Lee, started the forex trading scheme without authorisation from Bank Negara Malaysia in May 2015. He allegedly offered investors monthly returns of 20% for investments as low as US$25 to a maximum US$1,000.

The company ran into trouble early last year after the company claimed its trading account was hacked, resulting in losses of more than US$400 million (RM1.7 billion).

Lee initially told investors that he would pay them back and return with a new scheme. Some investors who had just joined the scheme reportedly received their money back. 

In May, police detained Lee and two others in Petaling Jaya for cheating after several police reports were lodged against the company.

The arrest came after various authorities raided eight JJPTR premises in Penang, and detained 15 employees and four investors for questioning and documentation.

Lee and his two associates, Pang Chee Peng and Lim Seong Wei, were charged with fraud in September at the Kuala Lumpur High Court. All claimed trial. 

Police believed that some 400,000 Malaysians and foreigners fell victim to the unlicenced scheme. – March 13, 2018.