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NOC’s Ryan Tan denies any role in allegations against Sylvia Chan, says he just wants to be ‘fairly compensated’

SINGAPORE — Mr Ryan Tan, co-founder of Night Owl Cinematics (NOC), denied any involvement with his ex-wife Sylvia Chan has called a smear campaign to “completely destroy” her, and said that he just wants to be “fairly compensated” over their business dealings.

Ms Sylvia Chan and Mr Ryan Tan, co-founders of Night Owl Cinematics.

Ms Sylvia Chan and Mr Ryan Tan, co-founders of Night Owl Cinematics.

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  • Night Owl Cinematics' co-founder Ryan Tan took to Instagram to address allegations over the company
  • Mr Tan denied he had played any part in what ex-wife Sylvia Chan has called a smear campaign to “completely destroy” her
  • He said he just wants to be “fairly compensated” over their business dealings

 

SINGAPORE — Mr Ryan Tan, co-founder of Night Owl Cinematics (NOC), denied any involvement with what his ex-wife Sylvia Chan has called a smear campaign to “completely destroy” her, and said that he just wants to be “fairly compensated” over their business dealings.

In an Instagram post on Wednesday (Oct 27), Mr Tan did not address personal allegations against him by Ms Chan, such as claims that he cheated on her, but said that he was “heartbroken” and “distraught” over the escalating public trading of allegations, and that he just wants a “clean break”.

Ms Chan — who is also chief executive officer and co-founder of NOC — made the allegations about Mr Tan in an almost two-hour interview with YouTuber Wendy Cheng — better known as Xiaxue — which was posted online on Oct 24.

She added that Mr Tan was among the people who would have “something to gain from this”.

In his Instagram post, Mr Tan wrote: “I am also distraught that Sylvia would give the impression that I threatened suicide to manipulate her. She knows this is not true and left out crucial details about my struggles. More importantly, the story was not hers to tell and I cannot believe that she would do that to me.”

He added that he does not understand how airing the former couple’s “personal troubles would address the questions that have been asked so far”.

Mr Tan and Ms Chan announced last year that they were ending their 10-year marriage.

“The conversations that need to take place are the ones with the talents and employees. Not with an interviewer,” Mr Tan wrote.

Various allegations have been made against Ms Chan, including the verbal abuse of one NOC employee and the withholding of salaries, among other claims. The allegations were first posted on the account of an Instagram user called Sgcickenrice.

Mr Tan, who has resigned as NOC’s director, claimed that Ms Chan told “many” lies during the interview, but he refrained from discussing her personal allegations against him, saying instead that he would address “certain allegations of wrongdoing” against him.

Ms Chan said in the video interview with Ms Cheng that she and Mr Tan were in talks with lawyers about a dispute in the company involving Mr Tan’s incorporation of his own venture, Reno King, which produces videos of home interiors.

In his Instagram post, Mr Tan said that he did not set up Reno King without Ms Chan’s knowledge and claimed that he did not misuse NOC’s funds for Reno King.

“Sylvia knew about my intentions to set up Reno King at least as early as April 29, 2021 and had, in fact, sent messages asking me to ‘quickly’ incorporate the company and to ‘close the case’,” Mr Tan wrote, adding that Reno King also has its own payroll and set-up.

Ms Chan also alleged in her interview with Ms Cheng that she believes her computer was hacked at around the same time that allegations about her began surfacing.

Mr Tan's retort was that he did not hack into Ms Chan’s email account and that he does not know her passwords.

“I also do not know the pin code to Sylvia's house. When I was renovating her house, I accessed it using keys that have since been returned.”

Ms Chan has been the subject of a string of accusations of workplace misconduct that were first posted on the account of the Instagram user called Sgcickenrice.

On Oct 13, she issued a statement on her own social media account saying that she would remove herself from the artists’ team at NOC and apologised for not stepping up to the standards she should have upheld as a leader.

Fresh allegations then emerged in a blog published on Oct 19 that claimed, among other things, that she had bartered sexual services of an NOC “talent” in exchange for courier services and that she had used the company to fund her brother’s salary in order to facilitate his application to be a Singapore permanent resident.

There were also allegations that many of NOC’s employees were overworked, with some regularly working on projects past midnight.

In his post, Mr Tan wrote: “I am tired of this. I do not want to be anyone’s hero or villain. I did not ask for either. I just want a clean break, be allowed to continue making videos, and be fairly compensated.”

He said that there is much more to be said and “actual, important issues” to address and investigate.

“But I will leave that to the authorities who will be given all the evidence that the company is able to gather and to my lawyers.

“I just hope that one day, Sylvia reveals what she offered to pay me in exchange for all my shares in NOC and two other NOC-related entities, and what she proposed for Reno King.”

Related topics

Night Owl Cinematics Sylvia Chan Ryan Tan workplace YouTuber

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