An ex vice operator was yesterday jailed for 29 months and fined $100,000 after admitting he lived on the earnings of prostitutes, and procured local women for the flesh trade. For over three years, Billy Thien Chin Wei and his partner, Andrew Cai Can Yao, both 34, raked in more than $168,000 in earnings. The case against Cai is still pending.
Some time in 2009, Cai set up social escort agency Singapore Premium Escort Services, which advertised the services of prostitutes online. Three years later, he met Thien, his secondary school friend. They discussed starting a business together and decided to focus on the social escort business as Cai had prior experience running escort services. They agreed to split the profits equally. Apart from premiumescort.com. sg, they created two other websites to advertise the services of the prostitutes online. They also advertised on the websites Sammyboyforum and EZ141 to expand their client base.
They recruited the prostitutes through online advertisements. Prospective prostitutes were informed that their work required them to offer sexual services. They were told to charge hourly fees of $300 to $600. The duo agreed to take a commission of either 25 or 30 per cent from these hourly fees for each client they secured for the escort. The monthly earnings of the social escort business ranged from $10,000 to $14,000.
In his mitigation, Thien’s lawyer said that Thien thought he was running a legitimate business that many others are doing.