Pimp in online vice ring scandal pleads guilty

SINGAPORE: The pimp behind the online vice ring scandal involving an underage girl appeared in court on Thursday.

Tang Boon Thiew, 39, pleaded guilty to 20 charges, including living in part on the earnings of prostitutes, as well as abetting men in obtaining the sexual services of the girl, who was then 17 years old.

He had 82 other charges taken into consideration.

A total of 51 men have been charged for having paid sex with the girl, and 16 of them have been dealt with.

The court heard that Tang ran a social escort agency where some of the women, including the 17—year—old girl, provided sexual services to the clients.

He would take a 50—per cent cut of what the women earned.

According to court documents, Tang secured about 698 bookings for 17 escorts between September 2010 and November 2011. He received over $185,700 in prostitution earnings from them.

The then underage girl worked for Tang between September 2010 and February 2011.

Sometime in September 2010, Tang obtained the girl’s mobile phone number from her previous modelling agency and asked if she wanted to "earn good money".

She agreed to take on the job, and on a separate occasion, met him at Hotel 81 in Chinatown, where he booked a room and proceeded to take photographs of her in her lingerie, as well as in the nude.

After he photographed her, he asked her to give him oral sex and then paid her $50.

During that time, Tang secured 82 bookings for the girl, and received about $21,700 from her earnings. She provided sexual services for between $450 and $850 per session.

Tang knew she wasn’t 18 but told her not to disclose her real age to her clients.

He also did not come clean to clients who asked about the girl’s age.

Tang will be sentenced on January 11.

Shashi Nathan, lawyer of Tang Boon Thiew, said: "Obviously, the whole prosecution, the trial, the sentencing has taken a lot out of him. I think to some extent, he wants to get this over and done with. I think he’s willing to face his responsibilities, he wants to serve sentence, so he’s hoping to resolve this as soon as possible."

— CNA/ac/de