If you have an oBike account, and worry that you will not get back your deposit, you are right. But you need not be kept in the dark about who took your money.

His name is Shi Yi 石一.

Shi Yi is the founder of oBike, a company portrayed as "homegrown" in Singapore. The truth is Shi Yi was born in Shanghai, China and he continues to reside there.

Shi Yi wants everyone to believe he is a tech genius. According to the 29-year-old, he left China to live in Germany at 11. As a lonely child, he learned different programming languages, including JavaScript, and how to build websites through online tutorials. At 14, he ran an online forum for people to discuss about computing and got his "pay cheque" of US$250 from Google. At 16, he had built more than 30 websites that earned him monthly revenues of between US$4,000 and US$5,000 in advertising revenue.

At 18, he enrolled as a computer science student at Goethe University in Frankfurt, Shi Yi dropped out after just three semesters because his online business was making him "a lot of money". How many of us would die to know how he made "a lot of money" from website building, media buys and online promotions, but unfortunately he didn't explain.

After quitting school because he had no time for his business, Shi Yi bought himself a business-class ticket to travel around the world (huh???). In August of 2009, he started in a small office opposite Shanghai an company called Avazu Advertising that offered multiple mobile advertising platforms for performance-oriented advertisers, focusing on a global market. Within one year, the company was profitable and three years later its profits exceeded US$10 million.

No mean feat for a 20-year-old, living in a country without Google since 2010 and 3G network was rolled out only in the same year.

oBike Singapore

Back to oBike.

oBike's operating entity in Singapore is oBike Asia Pte. Ltd. It was set up on 28 November 2016 and has paid-up capital of S$500,000. In spite of the scale of its operations, oBike Asia Pte. Ltd., currently has only one representive, who is a Singapore citizen company director, with a Chinese name, Zhu Yimin.

But as you can see, Zhu Yimin was appointed only on 27 April 2018. So Zhu Yimin is probably only a proxy and a scapegoat.

oBike Asia Pte. Ltd. is wholly-owned by oBike Hong Kong Limited.

oBike Hongkong Limited is a Hong Kong-registered company. It was established on 12 February 2014. Before 10 November 2016, this company was known before Avazu Hong Kong Limited.

oBike Hongkong Limited's registered address is that of its corporate secretary.

oBike Hongkong Limited has issued capital of only HKD10,000. It is most likely a shell-company.

The sole shareholder of oBike Hongkong Limited is oBike Inc., an offshore company registered in the British Virgin Island (BVI).

In other words, oBike Inc., through oBike Hongkong Limited, owns oBike Asia Pte. Ltd.

Before you think of getting back your money from the people behind oBike Inc., you need to know that companies are usually registered in offshore jurisdictions for one purpose — to hide the identities of their directors and shareholders, because the local laws are deliberately drawn up to allow this.

But rather foolishly, Shi Yi left himself registered as oBike Hongkong Limited's only one company director:

This is Shi Yi's hand signature:

Besides oBike Asia Pte. Ltd. in Singapore, oBike Hongkong Limited has another wholly-owned subsidiary in Shanghai called Shanghai Aozhi Network Technology Co., Ltd. (translated name) (上海奥致网络科技有限公司). This company, which is in effect oBike's Shanghai entity , was established on 29 August 2014.

Shanghai Aozhi Network Technology Co., Ltd. is managed by two persons, a supervisor named Zong Jun (宗俊) and a director-cum-general manager who is (you guessed it!) Shi Yi.

Incidentally Shanghai Aozhi Network Technology Co., Ltd. has registered capital of US$3million. The treasure pot, unsurprisingly, is close to home.

Shi Yi's Business Network

Shi Yi happens to be the legal representative of Shanghai Aozhi Network Technology Co., Ltd., and 10 other companies in China:

艾维邑动(北京)信息技术有限公司 (Aiwei Dynamic (Beijing) Information Technology Co., Ltd. also reported to be known as DotC United). Formed on 2014-03-06 and has RMB100,000 registered capital. Likewise Shi Yi owns 99% of this company and is its executive director, and Jin Peifang 金佩芳 holds remaining 1% share, although the supervisor is Zong Jun. 浙江艾维邑动信息技术有限公司 (Zhejiang Aiwei Dynamic Information Technology Co., Ltd.) Formed on 2014-06-04 and has RMB10million registered capital. Shi Yi is its executive director and 99% shareholder. A Jin Peifang 金佩芳 is its supervisor and holder of the remaining 1% share. 安徽橙致信息技术有限公司 (Anhui Chengzhi Information Technology Co., Ltd. ) Formed on 2014-09-25 and has RMB1million registered capital. Zhejiang Aiwei Dynamic Information Technology Co., Ltd. is its 100% shareholder, Shi Yi is its executive director and Jin Peifang its supervisor. 上海奔威信息技术有限公司 (Shanghai Benwei Information Technology Co., Ltd.) Formed on 2014-09-25 and has RMB 500,000 registered capital. Zhejiang Aiwei Dynamic Information Technology Co., Ltd. is its 100% shareholder, Shi Yi is its executive director and Jin Peifang its supervisor. 西安麦橙信息科技有限公司 (Xi'an Maicheng Information Technology Co., Ltd.) (deregistered) Formed on 2015-04-03 and has RMB 500,000 registered capital. 上海麦橙网络科技有限公司 (Shanghai Maicheng Network Technology Co., Ltd. is its 100% shareholder, Shi Yi is its executive director and Li Wenjing 李文进 its supervisor. 北京橙动信息技术有限公司 (Beijing Chengdong Information Technology Co., Ltd., also known as Teebik). Formed on 2016-03-09 and has RMB100,000 registered capital. 上海橙致信息技术有限公司 (Shanghai Chengdong Information Technology Co., Ltd., ) is its 100% shareholder, Shi Yi is its executive director and Zong Jun its supervisor. 上海麦橙网络科技有限公司北京分公司 (Shanghai Maicheng Network Technology Co., Ltd. Beijing Branch) Formed on 2016-03-23. Shi Yi is the person-in-charge. 南通艾维投资合伙企业(有限合伙) (Nantong Aiwei Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership) (deregistered). Formed on 2016-06-14 and has RMB 2 billion registered capital. Shi Yi is its 99.95% shareholder and the person-in-charge, while Sha Ye 沙烨 held the remaining 0.05%. 上海奥梵信息技术有限公司 (Shanghai Ao Fan Information Technology Co., Ltd.). Formed on 2017-10-20 and has RMB100,000 registered capital. Shi Yi owns 80% of shares and 上海麦致信息技术有限公司 (Shanghai Maizhi Information Technology Co., Ltd.) owns 20%. Shi Yi is the executive director and Jin Peifang the supervisor. 上海橙墨信息技术有限公司 (Shanghai Cheng Mo Information Technology Co., Ltd.). Formed on 2017-11-13 and has RMB100,000 registered capital. Anhui Chengzhi Information Technology Co., Ltd. is its 100% shareholder, Shi Yi is its executive director and Jin Peifang its supervisor.

Shi Yi is also a director or commissioner of the following business entities:

上海渔歌网络技术有限公司 (Shanghai Yuge Network Technology Co., Ltd.). Formed on 2016-07-20 上海手铺网络科技有限公司 (Shanghai Shoupu Network Technology Co., Ltd.). Shi Yi holds 1% share in this company. Formed on 2016-10-19 霍尔果斯金狮影业传媒有限公司 (Khorgas Golden Lion Film Media Co., Ltd.). Formed on 2017-08-22

Why does one do with so many companies engaged in "information technology" and "network technology"? Under normal operations, companies like these serve to enable their clients to transmit and disseminate information . Knowledgeable persons have also advised that without the cumbersome needs of dealing with physical goods and hiring a large workforce, they can be set up to support the facilitation of sizable payments quickly, across national borders and seemingly in legitimate manner.

Shi Yi is no computer nerd, as his shares in a number of investment and venture capital businesses show:

高榕资本(深圳)投资中心(有限合伙) Gaochun Capital (Shenzhen) Investment Center (Limited Partnership). Formed on 2014-06-11 and has RMB 320 million registered capital. Shi Yi owns 1.56% of shares 珠海横琴富坤创业投资中心(有限合伙) Zhuhai Hengqin Fukun Venture Capital (Limited Partnership). Formed on 2014-09-03. Shi Yi has 21.06% shares. 上海集观投资中心(有限合伙) (Shanghai Jiguan Investment Center (limited partnership)). Formed on 2015-02-17. Shi Yi has 99.95% shares and Aiwei Dynamic (Beijing) Information Technology Co., Ltd. has the remaining 0.05%. 宁波丰厚致远创业投资中心(有限合伙)(Ningbo Fengyuan Zhiyuan Venture Capital Center (Limited Partnership)). Formed on 2015-03-26. Shi Yi owns 1.58% of shares 新余艾动投资管理中心(有限合伙) (Xinyu Aidong Investment Management Center (Limited Partnership). Formed on 2015-05-04. Shi Yi has 99.% shares and JinPeifang has the remaining 1%. 新余凹凸凹投资管理中心(有限合伙) (Xinyu Ao'tu'ao Investment Management Center (Limited Partnership)) Formed on 2015-05-18. Shi Yi has 90.% shares and JinPeifang has the remaining 10%. 新余集观投资管理中心(有限合伙) (Xinyu Jiguan Investment Management Center (Limited Partnership)). Formed on 2015-05-18. Shi Yi has 90.% shares and JinPeifang has the remaining 10%. 北京天际时空网络技术有限公司 (Beijing Skyline Matrix Network Technology Co., Ltd.). Formed on 2015-06-03 and has RMB 15.294 million registered capital. Shi Yi owns 1.70% of shares 杭州塔酱科技有限公司 (Hangzhou Tajiang Technology Co., Ltd.). Formed on 2015-06-16 and has RMB 2.98 million registered capital. Shi Yi owns 14.00%of shares 杭州领带蛙网络科技有限公司 (Hangzhou Lingdaiwa Network Technology Co., Ltd.) Formed on 2015-07-17 and has RMB 162,760 registered capital. Shi Yi owns 1.92% of shares 深圳灿和星团投资咨询合伙企业(有限合伙) (Shenzhen Canhe Star Group Investment Consulting Partnership Enterprise (Limited Partnership)). Formed on 2015-12-21 and has RMB 5 million registered capital. Shi Yi owns 9.19%of shares 上海陈石互联网信息服务有限公司 (Shanghai Chenshi Internet Information Service Co., Ltd.) Formed on 2016-07-25 and has RMB 1 million registered capital. Shi Yi owns 3.00% of shares 宁波饮水思源投资管理有限公司 (Ningbo Yinshui Siyuan Investment Management Co., Ltd.). Formed on 2017-03-14 and has RMB 2 million registered capital. Shi Yi owns 29.85%of shares

Piercing through the veil

In June 2017, Shi Yi appeared on the 2017 Forbes 30 Under 30 China List, which is issued annually for "selecting Chinese young entrepreneurs and innovators, presenting to the world their entrepreneurial spirit and innovations, and hopefully can influencing more young people in the future".

The nomination marked the third time in four years Shi Yi was listed in the Forbes 30 under 30, having been first nominated as one of the Forbes China 30 Under 30 in 2014, and included in Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia in April 2017.

Interestingly Shi Yi's Forbes profile reported in March 2014 states:

"Shi Yi is the founder and CEO of Avazu, a digital advertising company. Avazu has offices in China, Hong Kong, Germany and Brunei, with more than 500 clients."

Interesting because we can see from the records of companies associated with him, Shi Yi first had his name to a company only on 12 February 2014 when oBike Hongkong Limited/Avazu Hong Kong Limited. Based in Shanghai, set up in Hong Kong, built offices in two more countries, gained 500 clients, and nominated on a Forbes list, all in a month. Wow.

A more recent Forbes profile of Shi Yi tells a slightly different story:

Zong Jun, whose name appears many times in the business records of Shi Yi in China is known to be the Vice President of Finance (财务副总裁) of Avazu Holding. So Shi Yi's intimate ties with Avazu Holding is not questioned. Furthermore, company records in China confirm that Avazu Holding was founded in 2009 as 上海威奔广告有限公司 (Shanghai Weiben Advertising Co., Ltd.) and it has RMB 5 million in registered capital.

However, Shi Yi is not a director or shareholder of Avazu Holding . Instead the company is equally owned by Shi Yi's close business associate Jin Peifang and Shi Hengzhong 石恒忠, who are also its directors. Jin Peifang is the company's legal representative.

The URL of Avazu Holding's official website in the record is given as http://www.avazu.cn. However, clicking on this URL redirects you to http://avazuinc.com/that belongs to a Avazu entity, also called DotC United, which "is founded in Brunei in 2009". A Chinese tech company in Brunei?

Confusing? Complicated.

The "about" page of Avazu/DotC United makes no attempt to clarify:

How does Zeus Entertainment come into the picture? Who are Jin Peifang and Shi Hengzhong?

According to this legal document produced by a Beijing law firm, Jin Peifang and Shi Hengzhong are the maternal grandmother and maternal grandfather of Shi Yi respectively.

So it was grandma and grandpa who started the Avazu mobile advertising empire.

Apart the companies associated with Shi Yi, Jin Peifang and Shi Hengzhong have registered business interests in the following other information technology and investment entities in China:

上海奥邑信息技术有限公司 (Shanghai Aoqi Information Technology Co., Ltd.) 上海邑为投资管理有限公司 (Shanghai Yiwei Investment Management Co., Ltd.) 上海麦致信息技术有限公司 (Shanghai Maizhi Information Technology Co., Ltd.) 上海邑为信息技术有限公司 (Shanghai Yiwei Information Technology Co., Ltd.) 上海奔汇信息技术有限公司 (Shanghai Benhui Information Technology Co., Ltd.) 新余邑为投资管理中心(有限合伙) (Xinyu Yiwei Investment Management Center (Limited Partnership)) 新余威风投资管理中心(有限合伙) (Xinyu Weifeng Investment Management Center (Limited Partnership)) 新余邑乐投资管理中心(有限合伙) (Xinyu Yile Investment Management Center (limited partnership)) 新余威奔投资管理中心(有限合伙) Xinyu Weiben Investment Management Center (Limited Partnership)

Xinyu is a city in Jiangxi province.

The document that spelt out Shi Yi's ties with Jin Peifang and Shi Hengzhong pertained to the acquisition of several Avazu companies by Zeus Entertainment (full name Dalian Zeus Entertainment Co., Ltd. 大连天神娱乐股份有限公司) in the latter's 2015 reverse IPO, as mentioned on Avazu/DotC United website.

Zeus Entertainment is controlled by a man called Zhu Ye 朱晔. Nicknamed the "Investment Hunter" (投资猎手), Zhu Ye had a reputation of perfect success in all his numerous acquisitions of technology, gaming, media and software companies and the market value of his companies are estimated to be RMB 20 billion. Successful as a tech entrepreneur by his early 20s, Zhu Ye's profile bears uncanny resemblance with Shi Yi's. However on 9 May this year, Zhu Ye was served a "notice of investigation" by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) for suspected violations of securities laws and regulations.

Not a good sign, for him.

So what has happened to our oBike money?

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) in Singapore has issued oBike an ultimatum to work with its liquidator to remove its bicycles from public spaces by 4 July, failing which LTA will remove the oBike bicycles (presumably at the expense of Singapore taxpayers) and demand oBike or its liquidator to pay the towing and storage fees in order to claim impounded bicycles.

We foresee the LTA being stuck with loads of unwanted bicycles.

After starting its operations in Singapore with much fanfare only a year ago, oBike supposedly found itself in tightening financial difficulties.

The situation is bizarre even if operations had not yet achieve profitability. Only in August 2017 had oBike pulled off one of the largest series B rounds on record in Southeast Asia to raise US$45 million from a venture capital firm linked to a co-founder of Russia’s Mail.Ru Group a mysterious “leading global transportation platform” and several unnamed family offices in Southeast Asia.

Moreover, bicycles can be bought off the internet in China for well-below the S$49 deposit fees collected from every oBike user in Singapore. Their cost price must be even much lower. So what did all the oBike investment and deposit money vanish to?

Regardless, Shi Yi appeared a desperate man to his associates at the end of 2017 and was looking for all ways to raise money to sustain oBike. Until an idea came to him — crowdfunding using cryptocurrency through Initial Coin Offering (ICO).

To accomplish this, Shi Yi roped in as his partners a Chinese investor named Sun Guofeng 孙高峰 and Sun Yuchen 孙宇晨 a.k.a. Justin Sun, the founder of crypto network Tron, which has just gotten into bed with PornHub.

Using Singapore-incorporated Odyssey Protocol Foundation Limited as their vehicle, they launched the cryptocurrency OCN on the trading site Gate.IO on 25 January 2018. OCN was traded on five trading exchanges Huobi Pro, Bit-Z, Kucoin, Bjex and Cobinhood. The venture was a success. Within six days, it raised 50,000 ETH, or equivalent to over S$82 million.

But this was only the beginning of the end of oBike. As this report by an information service provider on the venture capital and investment scene in China disclosed back in late March, Shi Yi never had the intention of investing the funds raised into oBike.

Odyssey Protocol Foundation Limited was incorporated on 16 January 2018. Shi Yi's name does not appear anywhere on its registration papers. The company had two directors, Guan Xiaofei and Singaporean Ang Irene. Its secretary is Wu Lijuan, who like Guan Xiaofei, is a Chinese national holding a Singapore ID number. Ang Irene has since resigned from her position.

Instead Shi Yi and Justin Sun are shown on the Odyssey Protocol Foundation Limited website as chief advisors.

As Sun Guofeng grievously recounted, Shi Yi simply withdrew the tens of millions in the OCN pool and walked away. Not a single cent went into oBike as promised.

Having tasted blood with the OCN heist, Shi Yi moved swiftly to initiate two more new cryptocurrencies Content Neutrality Network (CNN) and DatX in China, using the tried and tested formula — assemble a small team of connected persons in Shanghai for execution and registered a limited company in Singapore for packaging. The companies used for the ICOs of CNN and DatX were D-Run Foundation Ltd. and Cosima Foundation Limited respectively. Like Odyssey Protocol Foundation Limited, Cosima Foundation Limited has the same address with oBike Asia Pte Ltd at 1 Commonwealth Lane #09-19.

The CNN and DatX white papers indicate that the ICOs were conducted with the service of Tzedek Law, a boutique law firm in Singapore whose directors are Guo Zhanzhi Clarence and Lionel Yun Weijie.

According to Sun Guofeng, Shi Yi took the following steps for each ICO to ensure the outcome:

Step 1: Prepare a well-packaged white paper. This included establishing credibility by recycling the names of investors of previous ventures, inviting foreigners (outside China) with relevant tech experience on their resumes to be consultants. and building an English language website and engaging the foreign media. Step 2: Attract private investors and use their funds as capital Step 3: Engage the media to shape opinion Step 4: Harvest. Manipulate trading so that the value of cryptocurrencies are pushed low at the beginning, get the media to report on their potential returns to lure outside investors, and as prices spike, dump to cash in.

The ease by which he raked in millions through OCN, CNN and DatX gave Shi Yi great confidence to approach Sun Guofeng again to be his partner for one more ICO, together with a sidekick of his Chen Enyong 陈恩永 a.k.a.Joseph Chen. On 5 February 2018, they discussed on the division of the expected bounty (54% for Shi Yi, 23% each for Sun Guofeng and Joseph Chen) and responsibilities.

Targeting investors/victims in Singapore and elsewhere outside China, the corporate vehicle used this time was an existing one - OPG Asia Pte. Ltd., the developer of SpherePay, an app branded as "Singapore’s Homegrown Mobile Payment App".

In November 2017 SpherePay announced a partnership with oBike and just days before the chat shown above) issued a media release announcing the completion of a US$10-million funding round from "unnamed investors".

The partnership is nothing but a farce. Shi Yi himself is a director of OPG Asia Pte. Ltd, along with another Singapore ID-bearing Chinese national Liu Junfeng and German national Mi Yongliang.

OPG Asia Pte. Ltd's shareholders are Liu Junfeng and Mohammad Khairul Nizam bin Mohammad Mokhtar.

Probably not many oBiker users/victims realise that OPG Asia Pte. Ltd is also a party to oBike's bicycle rental service agreement with you.

The SpherePay cryptocurrency, SAY, was initiated on 7 February. Seeking to stir investment interest an announcement was released on 13 February that SpherePay had secured strategic investment from TrueChain, a Chinese entity described "one of the world's fastest blockchain company".

However, the plan never off as the bear market crashed on the crypto world. To keep the story short, the three men fell out and as things turned nasty.

Demand for Action

oBike claimed that it is withdrawing from Singapore because of new government regulations. Some observers said it has failed because of poor business plan.

What we have learned is that Shi Yi and his associates have been making use of Singapore and its clean reputation to form a base to make quick and big money using highly dubious means.

The securities regulators in China have began investigations into Zhu Ye, the man connected to Shi Yi's business network at a US$300 million reverse IPO in 2015 . It is possible that the sources of Shi Yi's wealth has not been properly accounted for.

If matters are otherwise, the onus is on Shi Yi to come clean and refund the oBike deposits.