With 2 fall guys – Chia Choon Huat and Ho Meng Seng – fronting her businesses, Hu Jiaochan ran unlicensed massage parlours offering sexual services.
The Chinese national pleaded guilty to four charges of operating an unlicensed massage business and giving police false information. She was sentenced to 20 days’ jail and a S$16,000 fine on Wednesday (9 Nov).
Admitting to five charges including living on prostitution earnings, allowing premises to be used as a brothel, and lying to the police, Chia will serve two months and five weeks’ jail in addition to a S$10,400 fine.
Meanwhile, Ho faces a two-week jail term and a fine of S$11,000. He pleaded guilty to three charges including letting others use the premises as a massage business and lying to the police.
According to Channel NewsAsia (CNA), Hu opened a shop along Beach Road in Dec 2016, where co-accused Zhang Yan worked as a masseuse.
In 2018, Hu and Zhang agreed to jointly operate massage parlours, opening one named ’82 Beauty Atrium’ along Horne Road in Jalan Besar.
Source: Google Maps
They then engaged Chia as a fall guy. Fall guys are typically men who front massage parlours, taking the blame if the business ran afoul of the law.
For his work, Chia received S$1,000 per month. He provided his personal information, Singpass password, and a copy of his NRIC, and was registered as the sole proprietor of 82 Beauty Atrium.
The women additionally used his particulars to rent the space at 82 Horne Road. They also made CPF contributions to workers at the outlet through Chia’s Singpass account.
On 27 Aug 2018, police raided 82 Beauty Atrium and discovered that the parlour was providing customers with sexual services.
An investigation revealed that Hu and Zhang did not have a valid license to operate the outlet as a massage parlour.
In line with his duties, Chia told police he operated the outlet. The court charged him in Dec 2018 with running a massage parlour with a license.
Hu and Zhang then opened two other massage establishments, 82 Beauty Atrium and Winter Leaf Beauty — both located in Jalan Besar.
They also hired another fall guy, Ho, paying him the same as they did to Chia.
Ho became the sole registered proprietor of both properties. The women used his name to pay expenses for the premises such as utilities and foreign worker levies.
In addition, Hu employed more workers from China, collecting a fee from them and informing them their boss was Ho. However, none of them had seen Ho before, CNA reports.
On 27 Mar 2019, police raided 82 Beauty Atrium.
There, the cops encountered a customer who was receiving sexual services at the establishment.
On the same day, police also raided Winter Leaf Beauty.
To further convince the police of his role as the boss, Ho was tasked to bail the arrested workers from both massage parlours out.
Hu also told the workers to sign documents confirming Ho as their employer, warning them not to inform the police of the truth.
In May 2019, she lied to the police, claiming she was just an employment agent and that Ho was the boss of 82 Beauty Atrium.
Ho corroborated her statement the month before, stating he bought the outlet from Chia in Mar 2019 for S$5,000. He also said he employed the workers and paid them in cash.
Additionally, he lied about not knowing Hu and visiting the outlet once or twice every week.
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Featured image by MS News.
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