A Singaporean Herbalife distributor who tortured his downline to death has been sentenced to 14 years and 11 months in prison.

As reported by The Straits Times on May 25th, Lim Peng Tiong, 67,

pleaded guilty on Feb 9 to a reduced charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

Lim’s sentence included a six-month term in lieu of caning. He cannot be caned as he is above the age of 50.

Sentencing was on May 25th. As I’m understanding, six months was added owing to Lim (right) being too old for caning (slightly ironic).

Lim’s victim, Huang Baoying, was 19 at time of death. After being recruited into Herbalife by Lim, Huang was starved and physically tortured to “improve her behavior”.

Huang’s Herbalife upline, Chee Mei Wan, ran a local Herbalife “nutritional club” (a storefront run by a Herbalife promoter).

After a falling out with their parents, Huang and her brother moved in with Lim. The siblings did not know Lim outside of the Herbalife setting.

Chee, who was married, also moved into Lim’s residence following an argument with her husband. After moving in, Chee began an affair with Huang’s brother Bocan (right).

To grow her Herbalife business, Chee created “a system of fines to correct bad habits” of her downline.

Huang’s torture was the result of failing to meet set Herbalife marketing and sales targets. The more extreme fines involved physical harm and abuse.

Lim and Bocan undertook the abuse, typically at the direction of Chee.

Between Feb 16, 2021, and May 4, 2021, Ms Huang was deprived of food, chained in a toilet at the flat, and brutally beaten.

On or around April 30th, 2021, Chee directed Lim to beat Huang with a wooden stick.

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.

When Ms Huang remained quiet during the beating, Chee and Huang Bocan saw this as defiance.

The trio allegedly tried several ways to get a reaction out of her, including holding her head in a basin of iced water.

Salt was poured on the wound on her calf, and she was tied up under a tap and drenched with water.

After midnight on May 5, the trio tried to wake her, but to no avail.

When they eventually decided to call for an ambulance, they agreed to lie to the authorities.

An autopsy revealed Huang’s body weighed just 27.6kg at time of death.

Huang Bocan and Chee Mei Wan have also been arrested and charged with murder. The outcome of their respective cases remain pending.

Beyond Lim, the size of Chee’s Herbalife downline in Singapore is unclear. It is unknown whether Chee’s “fine system” is common among Herbalife downlines in Singapore.

To the best of my knowledge Herbalife has not publicly addressed Huang’s murder.