A homicide case has shed light on how Herbalife is promoted in Singapore.

On February 9th Lim Peng Tiong pled guilty to culpable homicide in relation to the death of his HerbaLife downline, Huang Baoying.

Huang, 19, died on May 5th, 2021. As reported by The Straits Times on February 9th;

In her last hours, [Huang] was repeatedly beaten with a wooden stick, forced to sit upright with her hands tied and raised above her head, had salt rubbed into an open wound on her leg, and was drenched under a running tap for 15 minutes.

She weighed only 27.6kg at her autopsy, having lost 43 per cent of her body weight over 11 months from June 2020, when her weight was last recorded as 48.8kg.

Lim, 66, right, recruited Huang into Herbalife. The torture was at the direction of Chee Mei Wan, Lim’s Herbalife upline.

Prosecutors said Ms Huang was “tortured for no other reason than some twisted project to purportedly ‘improve’ her behaviour”.

Chee had introduced a system of fines to “correct” the bad habits of club members that would negatively affect the marketing and sale of products, which in turn would affect the commission she earned.

Chee is alleged to have directed Lim to beat Huang “about 240 times with a wooden stick” four days prior to Huang’s death.

The teenager was left on a mattress in the living room, where she died from a combination of severe malnutrition, sepsis and extensive blunt force trauma.

In addition to being Lim’s upline, Chee, 44, was also having an affair with Huang’s brother (right) at the time of her death.

Ms Huang was about 16 to 17 years old when she and her brother joined the club in 2018.

The siblings had left home in July 2020 after falling out with their parents over their refusal to continue spending as much as $2,000 a month on the products sold by their children.

The siblings went to live with Lim, and Chee joined them a few weeks later following a dispute with her husband.

[Huang] was punished the most because Chee and Ms Huang’s brother thought she lacked discipline and motivation, and performed poorly in product sales.

Initially Chee introduced a “system of fines” to punish her downline. When that didn’t work Chee and Huang’s brother

introduced a system where those who made mistakes had to perform exercises such as squats or hold a stress position with their legs bent and their backs against a wall.

Things quickly escalated for Huang.

In January 2021, Ms Huang was limited to one meal a day, purportedly to teach her about hunger and being grateful for her food.

From the next month, she was deprived of food as a form of punishment. From April 2021 onwards, she was deprived of food for days and would be allowed only to drink water.

Between January and February 2021, Ms Huang was forced out of the flat several times as punishment. One time, before chasing her out, her brother cut her hair to humiliate her.

On another occasion, a passer-by took pity on her and provided her with a blanket and a straw mat to sleep on. This allegedly prompted Chee to beat her for behaving like a beggar.

Ms Huang was beaten on other occasions, with the number of blows progressively increasing to a staggering 240 in a single incident.

In April 2021, the four attended a church service, where Ms Huang dozed off. After they returned to the flat, she was slapped about 130 times in total by Lim and allegedly her brother.

Things got even worse after that. If you want to read the extent of Huang’s torture, click through to The Straits Times article.

Regardless of her own sales performance, Chee exempted herself from punishment. Lim was also purportedly beaten for failing to meet Chee’s set sales targets.

At his trial, Lim’s attorney claimed he was “brainwashed” by Chee and Huang’s brother.

Both Chee and Huang Bocan are facing murder charges, and their cases are still pending in court.

Lim’s sentencing remains pending. Prosecutors are seeking a 20 year prison sentence. Lim’s attorney has argued for 11 years.

Update 26th May 2026 – Lim Peng Tiong was sentenced to 14 years and 11 months prison on May 25th, 2026.