‘Suspicious transactions’ behind a Singapore investment platform

Dear readers,

Happy new year!

I was aiming to have a relaxing holiday weekend, but life can throw curveballs sometimes.

For hundreds of investors in lending platform CoAssets, the news they received was devastating – they stand to lose all the money they’ve sunk into the company. Some put in their life savings while others sold their houses to invest. (Read the story here.)

Police reports have been filed. Appeals to the Singapore Prime Minister have been made.

Getty Goh, ex-CEO of CoAssets / Photo credit: Getty Goh

Tech in Asia got wind of the story about two days before Christmas. Then I went to work speaking to sources and collecting evidence.

I spent the weekend writing and rewriting the story, and then attended a three-hour-long powwow among investors of CoAssets on December 28.

Finally, I woke up at 4.30 am the next day to make some final edits, just in time for publication four hours later.

Given the stunning revelations that were uncovered, this was a story that simply couldn’t wait.

This development got me thinking: Can media companies like Tech in Asia and the startup community as a whole do more to prevent such heartbreaking fiascos in the first place?

It’s not the first time we’ve covered such a tragedy – the Honestbee debacle is another good example.

What if journalists had been more critical of such companies even when things looked peachy on the surface? Would that have prevented a bad situation from getting worse?

It’s easier said than done.