SINGAPORE, Feb 25 — American fraudster Mikhy Farrera Brochez’s mother has told a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent that her son is mentally ill and that she “was extremely afraid” of him.
In an affidavit, a copy of which was seen by TODAY, FBI special agent Chelsea Holliday also said that Brochez accused the Singapore Government of kidnapping, forging documents and “impersonating police officers” — among other claims — but “was not able to offer proof or witnesses to any of the allegations”.
Agent Holliday filed the affidavit on Friday in support of a criminal complaint she had lodged with the United States District Court in the Eastern District of Kentucky.
Brochez was charged on the same day with the possession and unlawful transfer of stolen identification documents, the US Department of Justice said in a news release.
“The criminal complaint alleges that Farrera-Brochez illegally possessed and intended to distribute data containing sensitive medical and other identifying information,” the US Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Kentucky, said.
In her affidavit, FBI agent Holliday said Brochez had also told her over the phone that he would “commit suicide” before he would turn over the database.
It started with Brochez’s complaint
In November 2018, the FBI Lexington Resident Agency received a complaint via the FBI website from Brochez who alleged that his husband, Ler Teck Siang, married him “under false pretenses and conspired with the Government of Singapore to falsely imprison him”.
Ler used to be the head of the National Public Health Unit at the Ministry of Health (MOH) and had access to the HIV Registry. MOH received information in 2016 that Brochez was in possession of confidential information that appeared to be from its HIV Registry.
Agent Holliday said that she contacted Brochez and asked him to come in for an interview. Brochez came to the agency on November 20 and repeated the allegations from his complaint.
The agent said she had advised Brochez to contact her if he could provide proof as “the FBI could not begin an investigation into a foreign government based solely on his word”.
In January, Brochez contacted agent Holliday again. “He advised that he had important information and that he believed that the Government of Singapore was going to try to kidnap him again,” she wrote in the affidavit. “Brochez refused to explain what he wanted from the FBI, appeared to be emotionally distressed and was erratic.”
In February, the agent learned from reports that Brochez had possession of a database containing information of over 14,000 people who tested positive for HIV.
From June 2018 through at least January 2019, while living in Kentucky, Brochez emailed links to the medical database to several news outlets including Alvinology.com, Mothership, The Straits Times and CNN, agent Holliday said.
The agent tried to contact Brochez but was unable to reach him. On February 19, she finally managed to speak with him on the phone.
“Brochez advised that he would ‘commit suicide’ before he would turn over the database,” she said. “He then explained to me that if I could convince the Government of Singapore to release his husband, he would turn over the database.” Ler is serving a two-year jail term for abetting Brochez to cheat and providing false information to the police and MOH.
Agent Holliday said she asked Brochez to meet her in her office but he refused, believing that that she “was trying to set him up to be arrested”.
On February 21, she spoke on the phone to Brochez’s mother, Teresa King, who said that her son “was mentally ill and she was extremely afraid of him”. King said that Brochez had emailed her a link that led to the stolen medical database, and told her that he had emailed the links to the Supreme Court in Singapore and Singaporean “diplomats”.
That same day, Brochez was arrested by the Kentucky state police and handed over to the FBI. During an interview with agent Holliday and her colleague, Brochez also admitted he was in possession of Singapore’s HIV Registry and had carried it into the United States.
He admitted sending the database to numerous parties — including the Supreme Court of Singapore, individuals within the Singapore Government and several media outlets — because he wanted to “clear (his) name and to hopefully get (his) husband” off what he called “false charges”, agent Holliday said in the affidavit. — TODAY
