'Swinger' couple fined for taking woman's nude photographs at 18 public places, lying to police

SINGAPORE — They wanted to spice up their relationship and adopted a “swingers” lifestyle where they have more than one sexual partner. 

To create content for swinger platforms and gain popularity, Jeffrey Chue Tze Jeong, 50, took nude pictures of Nguyen Thi Anh Thy, 30, in 18 different public places.

They included a supermarket in Great World City mall, a Toast Box cafe at VivoCity mall, at the boardwalk near Marina Bay Sands integrated resort and a Korean barbecue restaurant.

For their actions, Chue, a Singaporean, was fined S$14,000 and Nguyen, a Vietnamese, was fined S$9,000.

The couple pleaded guilty to conspiracy to appear nude in public and for furnishing false information after they lied to the police about the whereabouts of a Huawei phone that contained compromising images of the couple.

Chue also pleaded guilty to another charge of transmission of obscene pictures. He also had two other similar charges taken into consideration.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Thiagesh Sukumaran told the court that the couple had adopted a swingers lifestyle between December 2019 and May 2020, joining an online membership-based website — called Undertable Swinger’s Community — to upload pictures and videos of their experiences.

The couple was not married during this period, but have since tied the knot.

They gained popularity on the website after Chue uploaded pictures of a sexual experience the couple had with a third person in a hotel. 

To maintain their new-found fame, Chue started posting images on the website of Nguyen nude in sexually compromising positions, taken using a Huawei phone between January and May 2020.

This included images of Nguyen exposing herself in public on 18 occasions taken by Chue.

Chue also created a Twitter account around February 2020 to publish nude images of Nguyen to maintain their online popularity. While the account was initially kept private, it was made available to the public sometime before May 2020.

This account was also used to advertise a private Telegram chat group to monetise their online fame — subscribers of the chat room paid S$24.99 a month or S$69.99 for three months to gain access to more content of Nguyen nude.

Through this, Chue earned about US$7,805.73 (S$11,207) in his Paypal account and S$1,375.44 in his DBS bank account.

HID PHONE FROM THE POLICE 

On May 16, 2020 at around 5.04pm, the Singapore Police Force received a report about a video of a woman who exposed herself in public at Great World City.

The couple was then arrested on May 18, 2020 on the suspicion of prostitution-related activities — which falls under the Women’s Charter.

The police had raided their home and questioned them about a Huawei phone. However, Chue and Nguyen claimed that they had lost it after visiting Great World City and filming the video. 

Chue also claimed that he suspected the person who had picked up the Huawei phone had leaked their video online.

DPP Thiagesh said that the duo had lied because they were worried that the phone, which held many pictures of themselves, would expose their identities and violate their privacy. They also did not want to delete compromising photos of Nguyen, which held “sentimental value” to both of them.

The couple had removed the SIM card from the Huawei phone in a bag, locking it with a padlock and handing it to Nguyen’s friend for safekeeping before being arrested. 

Later, on June 12 in 2020, Chue and Nguyen retrieved and surrendered the phone to the police. Court documents did not state why.

Chue’s lawyer Tito Isaac said that his client is remorseful and a first-time offender who would not re-offend, adding that swinging had been a “hobby-cum-passion”.

Chue, a businessman, had been a legal officer, but he had not been called to the bar in Singapore and he was not a practising solicitor, Mr Isaac said when questioned by District Judge Janet Wang.

Mr Paul Loy, Nguyen’s lawyer, said that his client is remorseful having pled guilty and has been embarrassed by the situation.

“They have learned their lesson and left that lifestyle behind… that stage of their relationship is over for them,” he added.

Nguyen is also two months pregnant.

During sentencing, District Judge Wang said that Chue had misplaced his entrepreneurial skills in profiting through such obscene material and that the couple should have gone into this “with their eyes open”.

She added that they should have known the risk of the obscene materials being disseminated by others, and thus held no empathy for the couple.

“The obscene materials being circulated in a small section of the public does not detract from the potential of being circulated to the larger public,” she said.

For appearing nude in a public place, the couple faced a jail term of up to three months or a fine of up to S$2,000, or both.

For obstructing the course of justice, they could have been jailed for up to six months or fined up to S$5,000, or both.

Chue could have also been jailed for up to three months or fined, or both, for transmitting obscene images by electronic means.