A Malaysian lady in the US has been jailed for 51 months in an American prison after pleading guilty to identify theft and fraud – she promised her victims investments in Nigerian oil.
A US daily reported that Cheah Siew Im, 59, was sentenced to jail on Oct 4 in Alexandria, Virginia, after having been arrested in 2017.
According to the report, Cheah had stolen the identities of at least six people, including past roommates.
She would then use those identities for scams.
“She convinced professional athletes and successful executives she was the granddaughter of Singapore’s first prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, and a close friend of former US President Barack Obama.
“The money they gave her for supposed investments in Nigerian oil and Washington sports teams they now believe she spent on high-end cars, plastic surgery and designer handbags,” the report said.
According to court records, her victims included a chef, trainer and several manicurists, among others.
Cheah pleaded guilty this year in Alexandria federal court only to identity theft and fraud, having been caught speeding through southwest Virginia in a Porsche with an old roommate’s driver’s license.
Up until her Oct. 4 sentencing, at which Judge T.S. Ellis III put her in prison for 51 months, Cheah’s true identity was in question.
“I’m a little confused about what name to use for you,” Ellis told the small, quiet woman with chin-length black hair streaked white.
She said her name was Sau Hoong Lee, and her lawyer said she was 66 years old. Prosecutor Gordon Kromberg jumped up in objection, Washington Post reports.
“She’s not 66 years old, the woman whose identity she stole is 66 years old. She’s 59,” he declared. “Sau Hoong Lee is just another identity which she stole.”
