CEO asks ex to return Rs 3.53 crore he spent on Hermes, Prada gifts, cites Rs 1.55 crore crdit card charges, Rs 12.8 lakh feng shui

A company CEO sued his former girlfriend after their breakup, seeking repayment of S$468,090 (about Rs 3.53 crore) in expenses he claimed she was obligated to repay. The Singapore High Court on September 9 rejected Chander Agarwal’s argument that the money he spent on Felicia Lee during their relationship had been given to her as loans. Senior Judge Lee Seiu Kin ruled that most of the payments were gifts that Agarwal had willingly made, as reported by Strait Times.

The spending included S$206,000 (about Rs 1.55 crore) in credit card charges, S$129,000 (about Rs 97.3 lakh) on overseas trips, S$17,000 (about Rs 12.8 lakh) for a feng shui master hired for Lee’s flat and S$30,000 (about Rs 22.6 lakh) for a Stanford-NUS executive programme. Agarwal also failed to establish that he had given Lee two other sums, including S$50,000 (about Rs 37.7 lakh) that he claimed was lent to her to settle a debt owed to her former employer.

The judge said Agarwal could not produce evidence showing that Lee had requested the disputed amounts as loans or agreed to repay them. The case was reported by The Straits Times.


The BBC reported that the judge also noted Agarwal was “clearly a man of ample means who has expensive tastes”, in contrast to Lee “who was not in that league”.

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Judge says CEO showered former girlfriend with gifts

“The evidence before me clearly shows that the claimant, smitten by the defendant, had showered her with expensive gifts during their relationship,” Lee said.

“Unfortunately, when their relationship ended on a sour note, the claimant became embittered and was determined to extract a price from her.”

The judge also quoted lines from the 1697 play The Mourning Bride: “Heav’n has no rage, like love to hatred turn’d, nor hell a fury, like a woman scorn’d.”

He added: “This case shows that such emotion is not the sole province of one gender.”

CEO and former flight attendant met in 2019

Agarwal is the CEO and managing director of TCI Express, an Indian company listed on the National Stock Exchange of India and the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Lee, who was the defendant in the case, previously worked as a flight attendant before becoming an insurance agent and later a medical sales officer.

The two met on a flight in 2019. Agarwal subsequently contacted Lee through Facebook and they began meeting.

Their romantic relationship began in September 2022 and ended in December 2023 after Agarwal suspected Lee of infidelity. He filed the lawsuit in March 2024.

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Luxury spending began before relationship

The court heard that Agarwal had already been giving Lee expensive gifts before they became romantically involved and had not expected her to repay him.

He once arranged a limousine to take her home after dinner, bought luxury goods from Hermes, Louis Vuitton and Prada, and paid almost all of her expenses during a European trip they took together.

In May 2021, Lee told Agarwal on WhatsApp that it had been years since she had travelled by plane. He replied: “Soon, soon can fly. I have a first class/suite ticket booked for you already, wherever you want to go when it opens. If not, take the private jet then.”

When Lee asked in August 2022 how she could repay him, Agarwal replied: “No need. I am not a moneylender.”

In September 2022, he told Lee she should not be shy about using his money if they were “together” and offered her a monthly budget of S$1,500 (about Rs 1.13 lakh) for taxis, dining and beauty expenses.

In December 2022, Agarwal offered her the use of his American Express Centurion Card, writing: “You don’t have a budget now. Anything you want.”

In another message, he added: “And spoil yourself too, please.”