Police arrest JJPTR founder and con-man Johnson Lee

FMT Reporters | May 16, 2017

Lee and two others were picked up in Petaling Jaya as police initiate moves to freeze all assets of the collapsed investment scheme that is said to have collected RM1.7 billion.

KUALA LUMPUR: JJ Poor To Rich (JJPTR) founder Johnson Lee has been arrested by the police.

He and two of his right-hand men were picked up in Petaling Jaya about 4.30am today, according to a report in The Star.

The 28-year-old was last seen in public on May 10, when the company refunded the money of 100 investors.

Lee had told the media that the payouts were only part of the first phase of repayments, adding that more investors would get their money back soon.

Deputy Inspector-General of Police Noor Rashid Ibrahim was reported by the Sin Chew daily as saying yesterday that police would summon Lee for questioning.

This was because investigations showed that the company had raised funds from the public in violation of the country’s laws, he had said.

It was also reported that an investigating officer (IO) had lodged a police report over JJPTR yesterday.

On May 12, police, Bank Negara, the Companies Commission of Malaysia, Inland Revenue Department, National Revenue Recovery Enforcement Team and Cyber Security raided eight JJPTR offices in Penang.

Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department director Comm Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani had said that JJPTR had collected investments of up to RM1.7 billion.

Acryl Sani said 15 workers, including 13 women, and four investors had been detained for questioning.

Police also seized seven computers and laptops, cash counting machines, hundreds of JJPTR company documents, televisions, CCTV cameras and RM3,300 cash.

Police have also initiated action to freeze JJPTR accounts .

JJPTR gained widespread media attention after it claimed that its funds were siphoned off by “hackers”. This allegedly resulted in JJPTR losing over US$50 million (RM217 million) although unverified claims put the losses at more than US$400 million (RM1.7 billion).

JJPTR’s money game investment scheme was established in 2015, promising returns as high as 20% a month to members.

A new scheme, announced earlier this month, promises 35% returns a month.