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Photographer: Juliana Tan for Bloomberg BusinessweekThe Big Take
The Billion-Dollar Nickel-Swap Scandal That Shocked Singapore
Singaporeans invested a billion dollars in Ng Yu Zhi’s nickel-trading company. He’s accused of taking the money and skipping the nickel.
Not long after the novel coronavirus arrived in Singapore, forcing the hyperconnected city-state to shut its borders for the first time, a rumor circulated among its many wealthy people—and among others who weren’t so well-off. A little-known investment manager was apparently delivering an astonishing 15% quarterly profit to anyone who invested with him, by trading nickel.