JJPTR Founder Promises To Fully Refund Investors Within Five Years

Investigations by a team of officials from Bukit Aman and Bank Negara have ascertained that there were no traces of hacking into forex trading company JJPTR's accounts as claimed by its founder and CEO Johnson Lee.

The Star reported that some accounts worth millions of ringgit belonging to the company have also been frozen under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001, although it is believed that a bulk of the money could have been moved to overseas accounts.

Police sources also revealed that the company may not be involved in foreign exchange trading at all, adding that Bank Negara are looking into working with its overseas counterparts to check on the money trail.

In a statement, Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director Comm Datuk Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani said that JJPTR have collected up the RM1.7 billion worth of investments.

Prior to the arrests, officials from Bukit Aman's Anti-Money Laundering squad, CCID, Bank Negara, the Companies Commission of Malaysia, Inland Revenue Department, National Revenue Recovery Enforcement Team and Cyber Security raided eight locations believed to have been used as offices of JJPTR's operations in Penang. It is reported that the shops have remained closed since last Friday following the raids.

The amount of losses incurred was initially reported as RM500 million. In a recent face-to-face interview with the media, JJPTR founder and CEO Johnson Lee confirmed that the actual number is USD400 million (RM1.73 billion).

Read more about JJPTR and how the entire situation escalated here.

According to The Star, Lee unveiled the new scheme on Tuesday, 2 May via a video posted online. He explained that the initial money pumped in by investors will be "split" while half of it will be re-invested in the next round of the scheme, with each round lasting ten days. The new plan will also allow investors to convert their USD-denominated earnings into Malaysian Ringgit after three such rounds.

The paper also reported that JJPTR is offering lucky draw prizes such as a new car, motorcycles, and smartphones under the new investment plan. Investors will get JJ Points, which can be used to redeem goods via the company's shopping platform JJ Mart.

However, Lee did not say when the new scheme will be launched nor how JJPTR plans refund its investors' money after incurring such losses.

Lee also claimed that he has fully refunded those who invested in the JJ2 account, adding that he will gradually refund members who had invested in the older JJ1 scheme.

“I will no longer return it through a monthly 20% dividend, but will return the capital to members in a lump sum. But this will certainly take time," he was quoted as saying to Chinese-language business paper Nanyang Siang Pau.

"I was also once poor, so I know that feeling, I do not intend to cheat people, so I choose to face it,” he said.

In an interview with The Star, he explained, "A 35% return at the end of the three rounds (one month) is illogical. Where would the company find all the money to reinvest? The new plan is just a way for them to buy time.”

“No legitimate scheme will guarantee an annual return of more than 15%. Any scheme claiming to do otherwise has to be a scam,” he said, adding that the JJPTR scheme will end up like most defunct pyramid schemes when there are no entry of new investors.

In a special briefing on money game and illegal investment schemes, Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism Minister, Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin also said that the government has never given any forex investments companies the licence to operate legally in Malaysia. He also advised the public to lodge a report with the ministry if they come across any forex investment schemes.

"A lot of Malaysians are gullible. My advice to the public is not to believe anyone who has cheated you once," he said.

"I’ve been a businessman before I became an MP. Anyone who says you can get 20% return on your investment per month is a conman."