Suspended barrister named in deception case

Ody Lai and Ester Ylagan during happier times.

By Daisy CL Mandap

Former employment agency owner Ester Ylagan has accused her ertswhile friend, suspended Filipino barrister Ody Lai Pui-yim, of using deception to have an Aberdeen flat she used to co-own with her husband (now deceased), to be transferred in Lai’s name.

The allegation was made by Ylagan in a complaint she made to the Central Police Station on Dec. 5, 2017, a copy of which she supplied to The SUN.

The SUN tried to get Lai’s comment on the complaint via email last January 23, and alerted her to the email subsequently on a group chat on messenger, but received no reply.

However, shortly after The SUN's printed version of this story was published yesterday, Feb 1, Lai posted in her Facebook accounts in the name of "Ydo Lai" and "Ody Apostol Lai" a vigorous denial of Ylagan's claim, saying in part: "I have nothing to do with scamming anyone  not even Ester who was supposed to be a friend. Police has no actionable complaints against me that warrants investigation."

Lai also warned: "This is pure DEFAMATION on my person just to sell a story and I now warn The SUN of the consequences of your news". 

Lai's FB post

The two women used to be close friends, and were both officers of the group Club Filipino Hong Kong. Lai, 56, was the founder/chair of the organization, and Ylagan, 65, was president.

In her 4-page cautioned statement, Ylagan said she consulted Lai in July 2016 about the money claims filed against her by some 200 job applicants who were unable to take up the jobs that she had promised them in Canada and Britain.

Ylagan said, “As far as I know, Ody was a barrister and I thus trusted her that she would represent me in settling the case. Ody was supposed to help me refund the applicants upon selling my property in Aberdeen. I co-owned a property with my late husband, and it was situated at Flat D., 6/F, Block 2, Waterfront South, No. 1 Yue Wok Street, Aberdeen Hong Kong. My husband and I purchased the flat in 2000 for about $2.38 million and it was a 2-bedroom flat with sea view.”

 Later, Ylagan said she again met with Lai in a Chinese restaurant in Tai Koo Shing to consult her about the sale of the Aberdeen flat.

 “Ody then asked me to transfer the property to my son and let Ody sell the property so the money will be used to refund the applicants. I trusted Ody and listened to her. Later, I recalled that my son Michael had brought a set of documents regarding the property transfer for my signature. I signed without looking into them in details. In Nov. 2017, I asked my son what happened to the property and he told me it was transferred to Ody because he does not know how to sell the property.”

After agreeing on the sale of the flat, Lai allegedly told Ylagan to go back to the Philippines “to rest”. Lai allegedly told Ylagan that the police in Hong Kong were set to arrest her so she was not to stay in one place in the Philippines and to change her name.

Ylagan also alleged that Lai told her delete all her whatsapp, viber and Facebook accounts and to stop communicating with anyone.

Later, Ylagan said she asked why she needed to stay in the Philippines, and Lai allegedly answered that it was because she didn’t have enough money to fight the case and she didn’t have a strong defense.

“She told me for sure that if I return to Hong Kong I would for sure go to jail if they could prove my criminal intent.”

At that time, Lai had already been suspended from practicing as a barrister. A decision handed down on Sept. 26, 2016 by the Barristers Disciplinary Tribunal found Lai guilty on all 10 charges filed against her by the Bar Council, and suspended her from practicing as a barrister for four years, and pay a penalty of $200,000 plus costs. The decision can be found here:
http://www.hkba.org/sites/default/files/Reasons%20for%20Sentence%2020160926_0.pdf

On March 3, 2017 Lai reportedly contacted Ylagan in the Philippines and told her to sign documents authorizing the barrister to withdraw money from her MPF account in Hong Kong “to pay back the applicants and legal fee”.

Lai allegedly sent Ylagan via courier a set of documents which included a “Statutory Declaration for Claims of Payment, request for policy surrender and MPF forms.

“However, after I sent all those documents (back) to Ody, I have never heard from her anymore,” said Ylagan in her statement.

Later, Ylagan said she learned from her son Michael that only $90,000 was left in her MPF account.

She also learned from The SUN that the cases filed against her by her job applicants were still ongoing. “I was shocked because I thought Ody is working on the case for me and I was speechless when I saw myself on the news,” she said in her statement.

Realizing that nothing was done to settle her cases, Ylagan said she contacted the HK Police and asked for an interview to clarify the matter.

She also contacted her son Michael who had gone abroad by then, to ask why the flat was transferred to Lai’s name. Michael reportedly told his mother that Lai would return the property after three years, and that they could deal with the matter then. Michael also allegedly told Ylagan that Lai did not pay for the property.

Ylagan said she had not tried to contact Lai since her return to Hong Kong because “I am very scared of Ody and she would go mad if she even knew I have returned to Hong Kong.”

Ylagan said she also learned that Lai had been suspended from practicing as a barrister.

High Court allows legal aid for Ylagan's claimants

The High Court has cleared the way for legal aid to be granted to around 200 Filipinos suing to claim more than $2 million from Ester Ylagan, the employment agency owner who promised them non-existent jobs in Canada and Britain.

The decision to allow the appeal against the Legal Aid Director’s decision rejecting the application of the claimants was reached during a chambers hearing on Jan. 18. It is  believed to be the first time legal aid was granted in a class action suit.

Solicitor Melville Boase represented the Mission for Migrant Workers in the appeal.

Mission case officer Edwina Antonio told The SUN: “Akala kasi ng Legal Aid e sisingilin sila para sa bawat aplikante, pero sinabi ni Mr Boase na kami na ang gagawa ng paperwork kaya hindi ganoon kalaki lalabas ang bayad sa legal fee.”

A total of 129 claims against Ylagan and her defunct company, Mike’s Secretarial Service, are pending at the District Court where they were transferred from the Small Claims Tribunal.

Twenty-one claimants had managed to win their claims before the transfer. The next hearing of the cases before the DC has been set to March 2 this year.

The court was also told that Ylagan had returned to Hong Kong, offering to settle the claims if she could recover the Aberdeen flat she used to co-own with her late husband, Rick, who died in October last year.

In its reasons for rejecting the application, the Legal Aid Department cited Ylagan’s unknown whereabouts as one of the grounds, apart from the failure of the claimants to show receipts of the money they paid the recruiter.

Ylagan returned to Hong Kong in December last year, and filed a police complaint  claiming the flat identified as Flat D, 6/F, Block 2, Waterfront South, Aberdeen was obtained by her friend, suspended barrister  Ody Lai Pui-yi, through deception.

A search by the Legal Aid Department showed Ylagan had bought the flat with her husband in November 2000 for $2.37 million. The property was transferred in the name of their son, Ridge Michael on July 23, 2016, for $2.6 million. Then on March 20, 2017, it was further transferred to Lai for a consideration of $5 million.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong Police has reportedly given notice to some of the claimants that it is now ready to start investigating their fraud complaint against Ylagan, who disappeared just before the Small Claims Tribunal started hearing the cases against her in mid-July 2016.

The police had earlier declined to get the complainants’ statement, saying Ylagan had filed a complaint on July 8, 2016, saying she herself had been duped into sending $4.19 million to someone who used the names William Clinton Erich and William Clinton James on Facebook. Ylagan claimed $2 million of this came from her own personal funds.

In the complaint, a copy of which Ylagan furnished to The SUN, the veteran recruiter said she communicated with Clinton James only through the email he gave her: visagent@gmail.com.”. She had no mobile numbers or address for the agent. Despite this, she complied with his order to send money through Moneygram and Western Union to five people with African-sounding names who lived in Burkina Faso. She said she made 86 remittances in total to the given accounts.

Ylagan said she did not profit from the apparent scam. But the unknown agent promised her a UK passport, 15 return tickets to London, and an “opportunity to explore the UK business market,” in exchange for her recruiting hundreds of applicants for the non-existent jobs.

At the time she remitted the $4.19 million, Ylagan said she had recruited 400 applicants. She stopped when she was asked to increase the number to 650, then 800.

Each applicant to Britain was asked to pay $10,000 and $15,000 for those applying to Canada. A leaflet Ylagan had circulated said “any jobs” were available in the two destinations, causing hundreds of applicants who had relied on her reputation as a 30-year veteran of the recruitment business, to swamp her World Wide shop in Central between January to May, 2016.

Suspended barrister Ody Lai arrested for alleged fraud conspiracy, money laundering

Lai in a recent photo on Facebook

By The SUN

Suspended Filipino barrister Ody Lai Pui-yim has been arrested by Hong Kong police for her suspected involvement in Hong Kong’s biggest job scam that victimized hundreds of Filipino workers two years ago, and in alleged money laundering relating to the case.

Lai’s arrest on Aug. 30 at Chek Lap Kok airport where she had apparently flown from Manila, was confirmed by the Police Public Relations Bureau to The SUN earlier today.

“Upon investigation by the Regional Crime Unit of Hong Kong Island, a 56-year-old foreign woman was arrested for ‘conspiracy to defraud’ and ‘dealing with property known or believed to represent proceeds of an indictable offense (also known as money laundering) at the Hong Kong International Airport on August 30,” a PPRB spokeswoman said in a message.

She said Lai was allowed to post bail and was told to report back to police in mid-October while the complaints against her are being investigated.

Consul Paulo Saret, head of the Consulate’s assistance to nationals section, said they had been informed about Lai’s arrest “sometime last month.”

He said that as far as he knew, part of Lai’s bail condition was that she could not travel outside Hong Kong without getting permission from the police.

Ylagan and Lai at a party in Dec 2017

Lai had left for the Philippines shortly after the arrest of her erstwhile friend and former employment agency owner Ester P. Ylagan on June 7 this year, on the same charges.

Lai is suspected of involvement in Ylagan’s alleged recruitment of about 600 Filipinos in Hong Kong, Macau and the Philippines, for non-existent high-paying jobs in Britain and Canada in 2016.

Ylagan, who used to co-own and control Emry’s, the biggest recruiter of Filipino domestic workers for Hong Kong, was accused of charging $10,000 per applicant for jobs in Britain, and $15,000 for Canada.

The two women are also suspected of involvement in the transfer of around $10 million to several countries as far apart as Malaysia, Turkey and Burkina Faso at about the same time. Documents showing the transfer were reportedly unearthed by lawyers looking into the recruitment scam, and turned over to police.

Ylagan, who fled to the Philippines after the case unraveled in mid 2016, was allowed to post bail after her arrest, but was ordered to report back to police every few months while the case against her was being investigated.

She is apparently unable to leave Hong Kong while the investigation is being carried out because the Philippine government has cancelled her passport.

Six months before her arrest, Ylagan returned to Hong Kong to file a complaint with the police against Lai for allegedly using deception to obtain a flat she owned. Lai allegedly convinced Ylagan to transfer ownership of the flat to her son, while the barrister was supposed to sell it for them to settle the job applicants’ claims.

Instead, Ylagan’s son Ridge Michael was allegedly convinced by Lai to transfer the flat’s ownership in her name so she could sell it.

“In November 2017, I asked my son what happened to the property and he told me it was transferred to Ody because he does not know how to sell the property,” said Ylagan in her complaint.

Land Registry documents show Ylagan had bought the flat with her husband in November 2000 for $2.37 million. The property was transferred in the name of their son, Ridge Michael on July 23, 2016, for $2.6 million. Then on March 20, 2017, it was further transferred to Lai for a consideration of $5 million.

Market listings at the time of the sale showed a similar flat being sold for $6.5 million.

In her complaint, Ylagan also accused Lai of advising her to hide in the Philippines and not communicate with anyone while the barrister, who was then already under a four-year suspension for malpractice, sorted out her case.

Ylagan also accused Lai of draining her Mandatory Provident Fund, on the pretext that the money would be used for her legal defense. Ylagan said she later found out that she was not provided any legal representation in her absence.

Further, Ylagan said she learned Lai had already been suspended from practicing as a barrister.

The next hearing of the consolidated claims against Ylagan and her two defunct companies, Emry’s and Mike’s Secretarial Service, is set for Oct 26 at the District Court. Claimants who have been granted legal aid are expected to seek a court order attaching the disputed Aberdeen flat to satisfy their claims.

   

Meanwhile, Consul Saret said other victims of the recruitment scam should go to ATN so they can be assisted in giving their statements to police if they have not yet done so.

Saret said the investigation is being hampered by the difficulty of locating the complainants against Ylagan so they can give supplementary statements. Many of the complainants have apparently gone home for good, or found employment in other countries. Others have simply lost interest.

So far, more than 100 complainants have already given additional statements, but at least 200 others who had filed cases at the Small Claims Tribunal are being sought. These include those who were recruited in the Philippines through their relatives or friends in Hong Kong.

Police probe of money laundering case vs Ylagan, Lai almost done, says Labatt

By The SUN

Hong Kong police are close to wrapping up their investigation into the money laundering case filed against former employment agency owner Ester P. Ylagan and suspended barrister Ody Lai Puy-yim relating to a massive job scam two years ago.

Labor Attaché Jalilo dela Torre disclosed this in an interview with The SUN on Nov 28.

 Ester P. Ylagan and suspended barrister Ody Lai Puy-yim during happier times.

“Malapit na nilang matapos yung money laundering investigation. Kailangan lang nila ang proof na na-receive yung remittances by all those fictitious-sounding people sa iba’t ibang countries,” Labatt Dela Torre said.

He said he was updated on the progress of the investigation during a meeting with the head of the Regional Crime Unit of Hong Kong Island on Nov 23. The meeting was also attended by Consul Paulo Saret, head of the Consulate’s assistance to nationals section.



After the investigation, the police are expected to forward the case to the Justice Department which will determine whether the case should be filed in court.

Ylagan, owner of the now defunct Mike’s Secretarial Services, was arrested on June 7 in Western District for “conspiracy to defraud” and “dealing with property known or believed to represent proceeds of an indictable offence (also known as money laundering).”



Lai, her one-time friend and alleged adviser, was arrested on Aug 30 at the Hong Kong International Airport on her arrival from the Philippines. She is also being investigated for the same allegations.

Ylagan and Lai have been released on police bail but were required by investigators to report back on a regular basis.



The cases stemmed from complaints filed by 210 Filipinos, mostly migrant workers, alleging they had been deceived by Ylagan into paying between $10,000 and $15,000 for fake jobs in Britain and Canada.

The total number of Filipino job applicants allegedly lured into applying for the non-existent jobs were estimated to have been more, with the total amount involved reaching as much as $5million. The victims came from Hong Kong, Macau and the Philippines.



Lawyers for the complainants subsequently reported uncovering documents showing Ylagan and several other people close to her had sent a total of around $10 million to several countries as far apart as Malaysia and Burkina Faso.

The documents were turned over to the police, along with the names of the others involved in the apparent money laundering scam.



With help from the Mission for Migrant Workers, the complainants succeeded in getting legal aid to pursue their claims.

Ylagan slipped out of Hong Kong in mid-July 2016 in an apparent bid to head off a possible arrest. Before she fled, she filed a complaint with the Central Police station against a London-based business partner who reportedly duped her of $4.19 million.



She said the partner, a certain “William Clinton James,” had made her send the money to unknown people in Burkina Faso on the promise that he had jobs waiting for her recruits. In return, she was promised a British passport, 15 plane tickets to London, and a chance to explore business opportunities in the United Kingdom.

Govt accountant report sought in Peya’s case

By The SUN

Irate customers swarmed Peya's office in Central in Dec 2018 after failing to board their flights

Hong Kong HK Police say they are just waiting for the government accountant’s report on the Peya Travel ticketing fiasco before deciding on how to proceed with the case.

 “About Peya, we’re still waiting for the (government) accountant to furnish the accountant’s report as requested by the advising counsel,” a police investigator from the Regional Crime Unit said in an SMS message to Consul Paul Saret, who updated The SUN on the case on May 9.

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The officer also said the police have wrapped up its investigation into the case, which blew up in December 2017 when hundreds of Peya customers heading home for their Christmas vacation failed to board their flights because the travel agency did not pay the airlines for their tickets.

Ylagan

Earlier, the police also completed its investigation into the alleged fraud committed by employment agency owner Ester Ylagan in which hundreds of Filipino jobseekers were duped into paying between $10,000 and $15,000 for non-existent jobs in Britain and Canada.

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The case against Ylagan is now with the Department of Justice, which will determine whether a case should be filed against her for fraud.

“All remittance records have been collected and the duplicated files have been submitted to the Justice Department. The case is now with the Justice Department seeking for legal advice,” the officer said.

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Saret said the remittance records pertain to where Ylagan had sent the estimated $4 million that she collected in January to May in 2016 from about 500 job applicants, using her two companies: Emry’s Service Staff and Employment Agency, and Mike’s Secretarial Services.

But Saret said Ylagan’s alleged fraud toward her applicants is separate from the conspiracy to defraud and money laundering cases against Ylagan and suspended barrister Ody Lai Pui-ying that appeared to have arisen from the job scam.

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Ylagan, who was arrested on Jun 7 last year, a few months after returning to Hong Kong from the Philippines, is also facing several cases of overcharging the job applicants which were filed by the Labour Department.

Lai

Lai was arrested at the Hong Kong International Airport on Aug 30 last year as she returned also from the Philippines.

Meanwhile, Saret said the case against Peya should also move forward once the government accountant submits his report on the travel agency’s financial activities before the booking scandal forced it to shut down.

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Police arrested Rhea Donna Boyce or “Yanyan”, co-owner of Peya Travel, on Christmas Day last year in her Wanchai flat on suspicion of conspiring to defraud the company’s stranded clients.

Her Australian husband and Peya co-owner Peter Boyce was arrested afterwards but was eventually cleared.

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A co-accused, Peya’s sales and marketing manager Arnold Grospe, was arrested on Jun 6 last year.

Ylagan, Lai, Yanyan Boyce and Grospe  are all out on police bail.

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Ylagan granted bail after arrest

By Daisy CL Mandap

Ester Ylagan

Ester Ylagan, co-owner of the defunct Emry’s Service Staff and Employment Agency, was allowed to post bail early on June 9, after being arrested and questioned by Hong Kong Police for about 48 hours.

In an emailed response to a query on the status of Ylagan’s investigation, a police spokesperson said, “the 65-year-old arrested woman was released on Police bail and is required to report back to Police in early July 2018.”

The Police had earlier confirmed to The SUN that Ylagan was arrested on June 7 in Western District for ”conspiracy to defraud” and “dealing with property known or believed to represent proceeds of an indictable offence” (also known as money laundering).”

The arrest reportedly stemmed from complaints filed by 210 individuals starting in 2016, alleging that they had been deceived by Ylagan in a job recruitment scam in which each lost between $5,000 and $20,000.

The total number of Filipino job applicants allegedly lured into applying for the non-existent jobs in Britain and Canada were, however, estimated to have been more, with the total amount involved reaching as much as  $5million. The applicants came not only from Hong Kong, but also Macau and the Philippines.

Lawyers acting for the complainants subsequently reported uncovering documents showing Ylagan and several other people close to her had sent a total of around $10 million to several countries as far apart as Malaysia and Burkina Faso. The documents were turned over to the police, along with the names of the others involved in the apparent money laundering scam.

Of the more than 200 Filipinos who sought police help, about 150 have filed claims to recover their money from Ylagan, and their cases are now pending at the District Court where they were transferred by the Small Claims Tribunal.

With help from the Mission for Migrant Workers, the complainants succeeded in getting legal aid to pursue their claims.

Ylagan quietly slipped out of Hong Kong in mid-July 2016 in an apparent bid to head off a possible arrest. Before leaving, she filed a complaint with the Central Police station against a London-based business partner who reportedly duped her of $4.19 million.

Ylagan said the business partner she identified as “William Clinton James” had made her send the money to unknown people in Burkina Faso, on the promise that he had jobs waiting for her recruits. For her effort, she was supposed to get a British passport, 15 plane tickets to London, and a chance to explore business opportunities in the United Kingdom.

Each applicant to Britain was asked to pay $10,000 and $15,000 for those applying to Canada. A leaflet Ylagan had circulated said “any jobs” were available in the two destinations, causing hundreds of applicants who had relied on her reputation as a 30-year veteran of the recruitment business, to swamp her World Wide shop in Central between January to May, 2016.

At the time she remitted the $4.19 million, Ylagan said she had recruited 400 applicants. She stopped when she was asked to increase the number to 650, then 800.

Ylagan returned to Hong Kong in December last year, and offered to return the applicants’ money if she could recover a flat she used to co-own with her husband, Rick Ylagan, who died two months earlier.

She also sought police help again, this time to file a complaint for deception against her erstwhile friend, suspended barrister Ody Lai Pui-yi. Ylagan claimed Lai had deceived her and her son in transferring their Aberdeen flat in the former barrister’s name.

Land Registry documents show Ylagan had bought the flat with her husband in November 2000 for $2.37 million. The property was transferred in the name of their son, Ridge Michael on July 23, 2016, for $2.6 million. Then on March 20, 2017, it was further transferred to Lai for a consideration of $5 million.

The police are continuing their investigation into the cases.

Emry’s owner jailed 32 months for laundering $5.7m earned from jobs scam

 

Ylagan running for cover after an earlier hearing of her case at the District Court  (File)

The co-owner of what used to be the biggest employment agency deploying Filipino workers to Hong Kong was today sentenced to 32 months’ imprisonment for laundering more than $5.7 million she made from defrauding about 500 jobseekers.

Ester P. Ylagan, 71, was stoic as she was sentenced by Deputy District Judge Katherine Lo, two weeks after she pleaded guilty to four charges of money laundering. 

The charges stemmed from the cash remittances she made to various people in Malaysia, Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Turkey between January to July 2016, knowing that the money she sent were proceeds from a crime. 

In court to witness the end of the seven-year case were three of more than 100 Filipino victims who filed complaints against Ylagan after being charged between $10,000 and $15,000 each for non-existent jobs in the United Kingdom and Canada. 

Joining them was Ester Bangcawayan of the Mission for Migrant Workers who helped pursue their case with the police and the courts.

Her victims (first 3 from the left) were in court along with staff of the MFMW

Dozens of victims had agreed to act as witnesses against Ylagan, if she persisted in pleading not guilty to the charges. Those who were in court said they were glad that Ylagan was finally going to jail, but were upset that she was not ordered to compensate them.

The judge said Ylagan promised the mainly domestic helper applicants jobs in Canada and the UK, with salaries of as high as £2,000 for any job. Keen to leave their Hong Kong jobs, they paid Ylagan more than $6 million in total between January and June 2016.

The judge said part of this sum was remitted by Ylagan overseas. The rest, which she said amounted to about $570,000, was not accounted for. “So the defendant received more than she remitted,” said the judge.

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This belied the defense claim that Ylagan was herself a victim, asserting that about $2 million of what she sent overseas was her own money.

More than 100 complainants against Ylagan gathered outside Central police station in 2016

In the first charge, Ylagan was accused of remitting a total of HK$2,633,181.52 and US$44,658 (HK$347,439) to Malaysia, Nigeria and Burkina Faso between Jan 29 and May 5, 2016. The total sum of HK$2,980,620 was dealt with in cash.

In the second count, she was accused of moving a total sum of US$300,000 (HK$2,334,000) from an account with Standard Chartered Bank to a recipient in Turkey from May 12 to 23, 2016.

The third charge said Ylagan, using her account at HSBC, again sent to Turkey a total of US$10,055 (HK$78,227) between May 25 and 26, 2016.

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In the fourth charge, she remitted again to Turkey a total of US$50,000 (HK$389,000) from her HSBC account on Jul 8, 2016.

Judge Lo said that Hong Kong laws provide a maximum jail term of 14 years and a fine of up to $5 million for the crime of money laundering.

In Ylagan’s case, she used as starting point a sentence of four years in jail, but after allowing a one-third discount - 23% for the guilty plea and 10% for the supposed reimbursement of 45 victims - and applying the totality principle, arrived at a sentence of 32 months for all charges.

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Before sentencing, the judge noted that Ylagan had continued sending money to “William,” a recruitment agent she met only online, even after being warned by the Philippine Consulate that she was being scammed.

Even her own staff at Emry’s had refused to send any more money on her behalf after several remittance companies stopped taking their orders as early as April 2016, but she persisted.

Ylagan, here at The SUN office in May 2016, was advised to return the OFWs' money immediately  

Rejecting the mitigation that Ylagan had been put under severe stress by the long period of time it took for the case to be resolved, the judge said the delay was “not entirely unreasonable.” She noted that the police had to interview about 100 of more than 500 victims, and had to check with several remittance companies and consult the consulates of the Philippines, the UK and Canada to build up their case.

Ylagan’s jail time will only partly vindicate the duped jobseekers, who had clung to the hope that they could still recover their money, despite the defendant filing for bankruptcy earlier. Her lawyer also told the court that she had subsisted on her earnings as an assistant cook, and later, on financial assistance from the government.

Through her counsel, Ylagan claimed she had intended to refund her victims by selling her flat in Aberdeen, but that her erstwhile friend and legal adviser, barrister Ody Lai, who offered to sell it for her, managed to acquire ownership over the property without paying her anything. Ylagan said she was still seeking Legal Aid to recover the flat.

Ylagan fled Hong Kong in July 2016 after the victims filed complaints with the Philippine Consulate and the police, and Emry’s was forced to shut down.

Before leaving Hong Kong, she jumped the gun on the complainants by going to the police to file a complaint about being duped of $4.19 million by a business partner she met only online, named William Clinton.

She and her husband, Ricardo Ylagan (who passed on in October 2017), also managed to transfer ownership over their Aberdeen flat to their son, Ridge Michael, on July 23, 2016, allegedly on Lau’s advice. 

But on March 20, 2017, the flat was recorded as having been sold to Lai for $5 million. (Related story here: http://www.sunwebhk.com/search?q=Ody+Lai&m=1 

In December 2017, Ester returned to Hong Kong and filed a complaint with the police against Lai, who was investigated but was allowed to post bail.

On June 7, 2018 Ylagan was formally arrested by the police for money laundering. She was also allowed to post bail.

All throughout, her victims were given help by then Labor Attache Jalilo dela Torre, the Consulate’s assistance to nationals section, the Mission for Migrant Workers, and The SUN.

In mitigation, defense counsel Michael Delaney said Ylagan, a college dropout, came to Hong Kong to work as a domestic helper in 1984. She was married with three children in the Philippines at the time.

Ylagan later divorced her first husband and married Rick Ylagan, who founded Emry’s in 1992. She bore him a son, Michael.

She had a clear record for the past 40 years in Hong Kong prior to the job scam saga. Letters submitted to court by various people, including employers and church people, described her as a woman of good character, while her lawyer said she was remorseful and at her age, is not likely to reoffend.

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Emry’s probers seek more video evidence

By The SUN

Ester Ylagan in better times.

Police investigating the alleged job scam of hundreds of Filipinos by recruiter Ester Ylagan and her companies Emry’s Staff Services Agency and Mike’s Secretarial Services are asking for the applicants who documented the transactions on video to step forward.

Labor Attaché Jalilo dela Torre disclosed this as he and Consul Paul Saret of the Consulate’s assistance to nationals section prepare to meet with the police to check on the progress of the probe.

Labatt Dela Torre said the investigators need the names of those who took the video recordings so they can be submitted to the Justice Department as additional evidence.

The footages, at least two of which were shared with The SUN, were taken discreetly by complainants with their cell phones as they made payments to Ylagan at her former office at World Wide Plaza in Central.

The Police Regional Anti-Crime Unit is investigating Ylagan, 66, and suspended barrister Ody Lai Pui-yim, 56, for suspected fraud and money laundering in connection with the alleged scam.

About 200 applicants, mostly Hong Kong-based domestic workers, filed complaints against Ylagan for charging them placement fees of $10,000 for a wide range of non-existent jobs in Britain, and $15,000 for positions in Canada.

About 300 more victims of the apparently recruitment scam have either chosen not to pursue their claims while others have found new jobs overseas or gone home after losing their jobs here.

The complaints led to further investigations into the suspected scam by the Philippine Overseas Labor Office and the Consulate’s ATN sections, and in turn, resulted in the arrest of Ylagan and Lai, who are both out on police bail.

Both suspects have been told to report back to police at regular intervals while the investigation into the case continues.

Many of the complainants have submitted evidence to support their claims to Mission for Migrant Workers director Edwina Antonio who is representing them in court. She is also expected to supply the names of those who took the videos to investigators.

The next hearing of the claims will be held at the District Court sometime next month, following a postponement on Oct 26.

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