Rachel Wong: eFishery Fraud Founder Confession, Self-Justification vs. Excuses, & Civil vs. Criminal Startup Ecosystem Consequences – E567

"Accountability doesn't mean stripping them of their ability to serve, but there has to be some sort of a pain, whether it's a financial pain, or a temporary suspension, or at least an investigation for accountability on how do you guys actually sign off on these numbers. Thumb Chicken did a report that was highly scoped. It did clear that, okay, we're only referring to these fishermen that we're talking about. Then at least we know in the next cycle that we can't rely on the scoping by the founders. We have to randomly pick them ourselves. So I think that's a really important point, and I hope that we pick this up. And I think that if I may add one point, it is that I empathize with why individual private parties do not feel the incentive to conduct a civil investigation, right? Because if you're a VC and you already lost 85 cents on a dollar, are you really going to spend are so expensive." - Rachel Wong, Startup Lawyer

"So my perspective is that if there is no enforcement action against a public confession, clear facts, clear paper trail, in his own words he explains how he did it and why he did it. And if nobody investigates him in either Indonesia, because that's where the company was domiciled, or Singapore, where his co-holding company was and where there are significant investors, then I think Southeast Asia ecosystem, the regulators will suddenly find, oh wait, there is now a systematic lack of trust because bad apples walk away scot-free." - Jeremy Au, Host of BRAVE Southeast Asia Podcast

"So I'll just bring up another example where I was a bit bolder by then because I was perhaps seven years, eight years into practice. I was a little bit bold because I had the ability to curate my own style. And I actually told the investor not to do the deal. The thing that I picked up was not legal. I was only engaged to do legal due diligence, but I looked at the contract and I said, you guys are investing half a million dollars into this company. The founders, when you add their compensation together, pay themselves half a million dollars each a year. Are you sure your money is going where it's going? And it's simple things like that." - Rachel Wong, Startup Lawyer

Jeremy Au and Rachel Wong unpack eFishery's founder’s public confession to systematic fraud. They dive into how cultural pressures, ecosystem gaps, and misplaced investor trust contributed to the fallout. They discuss the challenges of cross-border enforcement, the limits of traditional due diligence, and the real-world consequences for Southeast Asia’s startup reputation. Together, they reflect on how founders, investors, and regulators must learn from these failures to rebuild trust and resilience in the next cycle.