A man from the United States has pleaded guilty to carrying on a business for a fraudulent purpose, involving more than $18 million from over 1,300 clients. Michael Philip Atkins, 51, was arrested in 2014 but jumped bail. He was later extradited from the US to Singapore in March 2023.

According to The New Paper, Atkins was a majority shareholder of the firm, Aureus Capital, which offered leveraged foreign exchange trading services and schemes between April 2013 and July 2014. Clients entered into agreements allowing Aureus Capital to engage in forex trading on their behalf, with the company entitled to 40 to 50 per cent of the profits generated from the trading.