Facts, Frauds and Fallacy: 11 Reasons to Run Away From Tan Swee Tiong Lexxus, Head Coach of Mizuno F1 Runners/ CBD Run/ HPB DownTown Run / i-RUN

Disclaimer: This is a long read but it is a warning post. Names have been masked and not mentioned to protect the interests of the people affected. If they wish to speak up in public, it would be completely voluntary and out of revelation. This article does not serve to malign anyone. It is purely my personal account to share our experience and what we know.

Facts, Frauds and Fallacy: 11 Reasons to Run Away From Tan Swee Tiong Lexxus,

Head Coach of Mizuno F1 Runners/ CBD Run/ HPB DownTown Run / i-RUN

“The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.” – Albert Einstein

In October, things were still blissfully ignorant. I wish, we had stayed that way.

Tan Swee Tiong Lexxus, also known as Lexus Tan on Facebook is the Head Coach of Mizuno F1 Runners, Mizuno CBD Run, HPB Downtown Run and i-Run. Mizuno F1 Runners has been renowned for producing strong runners, many of whom win prizes at races. However, Lexus Tan is also notorious for his unorthodox approaches in running his coaching business, which many runners new to the running community may not be aware of.

As one of his most improved runners, also a Mizuno Sponsored Athlete, I cannot agree with his way of doing business. From today (5 June 2018) onwards, I announce my departure from the team and disassociation with Lexus Tan, even though my membership expires in August 2018.

Here are the reasons:

1.    His runcations are usually on the brink of cancellation or are problematic.

On 21 November 2017 at 9:53pm, one night before the first batch of five runners departed for Osaka Marathon 2017, he WhatsApp my husband seeking urgent financial assistance. He sent a screenshot of the email from the travel agency, stating that if they did not receive S$30,000 before 11.30pm that night, they would fully cancel the flight tickets for the five runners departing on 22 November 2017.

The email from the agency that Lexus sent to my husband when he sought help.

 My husband declined initially but changed his mind out of sympathy. As part of the team, he did not want to see the team fail. Due to the urgency of the matter, he decided to lend Lexus his credit card to pay for a portion of the trip. Lexus promised he would pay off the debt within 45 days and make it his priority when my husband reminded him of the interests if the credit card amount was not paid.

Lexus promised to return us within 45 days.

Lexxus promised he would settle our credit card debt first.

We trusted him. Up until then, we regarded him as a respectable coach since we saw improvements in running. We thought it was a genuine one-off situation. He sounded really sincere and desperate so we helped him.

A few days later, on 24 November 2017, Lexus contacted my husband, asking about his relationship with the General Manager of the travel agency. He knew the agency had some business dealings with my husband before. He said that the agency was kicking a fuss over a “very small matter” – asking his runners to make payment for the Osaka trip, which was a breach of contract.

When my husband went to the agency, the General Manager revealed that there was a runner who transferred money to the agency with comments “In payment for 3 Berlin slots”. The agency was perturbed as they were only accepting payment for Osaka marathon.

What would you call the act of telling someone that you are paying for one thing but it turns out to be another thing? Would it be called, fraud or scam?

The General Manager also told my husband that Lexus breached their trust on several occasions. The staff had to go down to Lexus’ home to try to get a cheque, which required a signature so that payment for the trip could be complete. The word here is “try” because the first cheque bounced and the second cheque did not materialized leading to the last minute call for help.

Anyway, to prevent themselves from getting implicated with legal issues, they made all the contributors sign an indemnity form to acknowledge that they were paying for Osaka Marathon 2017 using their credit cards.

As only very few people (including my husband) knew the truth, my husband advised Lexus to come clean with everyone else. We were not sure what he told them eventually, as they were still puzzled when my husband met them on why it showed Osaka on the form when they were supposedly paying for Berlin, but all of them signed in good faith of a “good coach”.

The reason the agency was upset.

My husband advised Lexus to come clean.

Lexus breached the agency's trust on several occasions.

The indemnity form stating that the runners were paying for Osaka.

So, my husband went around Singapore to get people to sign on the indemnity forms. The Osaka trip was fulfilled but not without a glitch. Later on, we found out he tried to borrow money from someone while he was on the trip.

Osaka Marathon 2017 was just a stark example of the way his trips were funded with runners’ monetary support.

This brings me to the next point.

2.   Does he have terrible financial management skills or compulsive borrowing habits?

I am not sure if his “terrible financial management skills” is a good enough excuse to go around borrowing money to fund his business and trips.

Anyway, the request for our monetary support did not end at the first request (21 November 2017). A few days later, he contacted my husband again.

Lexus contacted my husband for more loan.

This year, while he was still supposedly servicing his loan with my husband, he sought help to finance the Translantau Asia, Hong Kong that took place on 2-4 March 2018. My husband declined.

While he was supposedly servicing his loan with my husband, which he defaulted constantly, he asked my husband for monetary assistance again.

In November 2017, when Lexus returned from Osaka, my husband asked him for a meeting to see how they could work out some ways to help him. As they discussed together with three other close runners, they generated more creditors. But that was not all. As time went by, we found out even more.

A non-exhaustive tabulation of creditors on the back of an envelope in November 2017. This list was a collation of the creditors who paid for the Osaka Marathon 2017 using their credit cards.

A discussion to list creditors in January 2018 to work out ways to help Lexus without borrowing more money. Some were duplicated from the Osaka list. Back then, we still trusted him and wanted very much to help him. In fact, we should have heeded these as signs but somehow, we continued to support him, brainwashed by his promises to resolve.

Creditors as of 31 May 2018, who were not on previous lists and were willing for me to include them on a list when I contacted them. Some of these creditors also paid in advance for Garmin watches. Pardon the scribbles.

The question was - where had all the money gone to since the trips and goods were all paid fully by the participants and customers? Could we actually use “bad financial management skills” in this instance?

Well, God was good and started sending people to talk to us. We found out Lexus Tan did have terrible financial management skills. He is also a compulsive borrower (refer to creditors’ lists as example)! He borrows from A to return B. And then he borrows from C to return B.

I got connected with early members of F1 Runners, whom I shall not name, to protect the interests of these people. His borrowing habits have started since the pioneer batch (2009). Some only got back their repayment after four years. It is quite possible he is still owing some of them money.

3.   Honouring his words is not his forte.

Honouring his words does not seem to be his strongest suit. Ok. Maybe I should say, he does honour his words but after much delay and persistent chasing. Would you consider weeks, months and years of delay honouring one’s words?

He told us, the Mizuno Sponsored Athletes that we would sign a contract this year. However, the contract did not come. We were then supposed to collect some entitled apparels after Chinese New Year but it was pushed back. Last I heard from a fellow sponsored athlete, it had been postponed to June this year. Some current sponsored athletes waited and chased for their entitlements. Some former sponsored athletes did not receive their full entitlements as promised. For me, I knew about his financial situations and gave up chasing for the entitlements.

Similarly, the promise to pay us within 45 days stretched on. We told him to pay off just the minimum amount for the credit card bill, including interest, which worked out to $300 per month. He defaulted payment after two months. My husband ended up paying off the minimum sum as well.

We then found out this is generally how he honours repayment. He settles with minimal partial repayment to extend the loan with minimal complaint until the next harsher complaint surfaces such as threats.

Have we been too kind because we did not take legal action against him?

We have really been too kind. Even up until that point, my husband was sympathising him.

My husband was also helping him with the HPB Downtown Run as a trainer at that point in time. Lexus was also not paying him and some of the trainers their fees as promised ($50 per training session). Some left and recovered the promised fees after much chasing. Some, never got their trainer’s fees.

The next question we had was, why was he unable to pay the trainers their fees since the HPB Downtown Run Program was funded by the Health Promotion Board? Where did the money go to?

4.   Where is his fund management?

So, we had enough and pressed him for money. He told us he had no money to repay us because SNEF, which provided the contract for the HPB Downtown Run Program had not transferred him money yet. Hence, he had no money to return us – for trainer’s fees and for the loan since November 2017.

Lexus said SNEF had yet to make payment. He gave a screen shot showing him chasing SNEF for payment.

A responsible person, upon knowing a good paying contract delays payment and affects paying the trainer’s fees, would never use that same contract as a collateral for more borrowing. However, he used HPB contracts as a tool to borrow money from runners, to assure them that he would have money to pay them, with a screen shot of an email. 

A photo from a runner to show me how Lexus asked him for a loan. This photo had been used with his permission.

So, I guess that was why the trainers never received their dues. What would you call such a way to manage funds? Is it considered misuse of funds? I am not sure how to term this way of using money. Is it also legally correct for a business (i.e. Run Stop Shop Sports Resources) to borrow money from an individual to finance business related transactions such as a runcation?

5.   He is surrounded by many rumours.

Most certainly, the purpose of joining a running group is lost. People join a running club to keep fit and run better with like-minded people. However, when he borrowed money from his runners and did not return them as promised, people got frustrated.

Runners ended up having to chase for payment, go down to training sessions to ask him for money and ultimately, some left or burnt the bridge. When that happened, Lexus would craft a story to explain why these people left, even before these people could talk about him. He would say that people were spreading rumours about him. Strangely, we all fell for it since we thought he was someone respectable, of authority and we believed he cared for our well-being, given his position as a coach. Come to think of it, would someone of a good character have so many rumours?

When I first joined Mizuno CBD Run, he started fanning off rumours. The biggest rumour he had to fan off was that someone reported to the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) regarding him raising funds for Jasmine Goh, our representative at the SEA Games 2017. He said his account was frozen due to the CAD investigation. The case mysteriously disappeared, or rather, we did not hear more of it.

Then in December, someone posted on Facebook with his identity card to demand him for payment. It appeared to be a loan shark. And the loan shark even threatened to set fire at his home. Thinking back, I can’t believe how naïve I was then. I actually pitied him and told him he had to bring his mother somewhere safe. I am not sure if it was a loan shark or it was a jaded creditor trying ways to make him pay up. Anyway, he told us, it was a rumour.

A photo was posted on Facebook demanding Lexus for money.

Then, there were other rumours such as someone was spreading rumour about him having financial problems. If you are reading until now, I shall leave this to you to discern if it is a rumour or not.

6.   He is terrible at planning.

So, Osaka was not the only trip with issues.

We were told about Sydney Marathon 2017 where the runners almost did not have accommodation to stay. At the last moment, he had to contact someone in Singapore from Sydney for a loan to bail him out.

My husband was the leader for the Bhutan trip in March 2018.  The agency that organized the trip joined them for dinner and informed him that the trip was almost cancelled as it was not paid in time. The visa was also not applied until one day before the trip when the funds were finally transferred. The visa application normally takes 5 days to process and the agent had to seek favours from several parties to expedite the process.

During the race pack collection, the runners were shocked to know that they were not registered for the races and had to fork out USD150 on the spot or else they would not travelled in vain to Bhutan.  My husband told him he had to plan better so that runcations would not have such problems.

The agent in Bhutan joined the team for dinner and revealed the trip was almost canceled. My husband advised Lexus to plan better.

The fund was only received one day before the trip.

The Bhutan slots were not paid prior to the trip although he claimed he did. As of 11 May 2018, approximately two months after the trip, some of the runners still did not receive the registration fees refund.

Well, it happened again. At the Ultra Trail Australia (UTA) that took place in May 2018, due to some booking issues, the runners had to pay for their flights back because he maxed out his card and was unable to pay for them on the spot.

I guess, he should really just stick to coaching and forget about running business. Having said that… see my next point.

7.   Lexus Tan should have left his business to somebody with better business acumen.
    The one thing I have learnt from the whole Lexus Tan’s saga is, if transactions have been conducted without any contractual agreements, proper documentation, invoices and audits, there is something very fishy about this business. It is an alert to stop associating with the business.

We seldom bought things from him. From what I know, people were concerned because they paid for trips a year in advance but there was no documentation to prove their transactions. The same goes to buying watches. Goods take a really long time to be delivered. A really long time, refers to weeks and months.

A runner was chasing for purchase of watches on Facebook. This is just one example. There were more but did not chase him on social media.

We were very appalled by his business management skills and decided to look him up on ACRA. We bought a report and found out he had eight businesses before that did not sustain. Most of them were related to automobile or insurance businesses. He should really not handle any monetary related matters.

The first page of the ACRA document we bought. I would not include all pages to avoid overcrowding of the article.

8.   He has poor credit rating.

We found out he has such an atrocious credit rating that even random money lenders do not wish to lend him money. We were exasperated with his delay tactics to repay our debt. And we were really tired chasing him for money.

So, my husband suggested to help him find ways to get money. We’d rather he pays off other people than for us to keep chasing him. And having to chalk up credit card interests. This is definitely a growing debt. How disappointing to know that his credit rating was so poor.

The random money lender rejected Lexus to borrow money.

9. He keeps delaying payment.

I cannot even tell you how many tall tales and excuses he has to delay payment. Not just with us but with many people we know. I think we all signed up as runners not as debt collectors? All of us have better things to do.

Yes. As the wise ones say, when you decide to lend someone money, it is as good as water down the drain. I guess all of us who lent him money understood that. However, we assisted him because he was in a respectable position as a coach of a renowned, popular and seemingly thriving running team. We trusted him. Most of all, it was under such great urgency with little time to conduct any checks, we did not want our team to fail. He was afterall, our coach.

I guess, we have learnt a very important lesson here. Never agree to anything under pressure. Take time off to think. Ask for a day or two to consider unless it is life and death, such as a person’s wife with heart problems will die without the money for operation. Even then, I would go down personally to verify the fact.

If you are reading up to point number 9, you should have a clear idea of his character by now.

Do we want to have free lifetime membership with F1 Runners? No. Definitely not with someone of such a character. Do we want to contra our loan with trips organised by him? No, knowing how they may fail due to cashflow issues. Do we want free apparels? Yes. If we can have enough to sell to cover our loan. However, that would be too much work and we doubt he has S$13,000 plus worth of apparels, if even sponsored athletes and customers had to wait for so long?

10.   He takes people’s kindness for granted.

As mentioned in point number 3, Lexus tends to attend to the more pressing creditors first. He would keep the ones who are kind and supportive waiting. My husband had a meeting with him one day to discuss about this.

Even at that time, he was not sincere at all about returning the money. He said he wanted to “make them (the ones who did little to help him) happy”. This is also the reason things have escalated to this stage because he had played us out too many times, taking our kindness for granted. For the support and help we gave him, Lexus was never sincere about returning us money. He even asked for more (in point number 2).

It is really not about the money. The feeling of being used and the breach of trust was greater than the money. I gave him the ultimatum, stating that I would blow things out of proportion if he did not return me the money by 2 June 2018. He had never once acknowledged me.

Upon deadline, he did not say anything as well. Is that being rude or did he think I was just making empty threats or was he just pushing his luck? I am not sure. Whichever the case, I am just honouring my words here. Afterall, he trained me to be a 3D athlete and I am just applying it in this case.

My husband lost his patience with him and gave him a deadline. When he defaulted, my husband spoke to him and he was still insincere. He seemed to think we would just stand by him and wait for repayment even if it would take eternity. Then I gave him the ultimatum, which he did not acknowledge.

11.   He is unrepentant.

Lastly, the saying, “a leopard can never change its spots” has proven to be quite accurate. My husband and a few close runners had set up meetings with him in January (as mentioned earlier) to see if they could help him to correct his problems.

Even then, he was not honest with them. Firstly, he did not come clean with his list of creditors or the amount of debts he had. And we already discovered (in point 2) that he has been doing this since the pioneer batch (2009). His list of creditors could be much longer than what we discovered along the way! Secondly, he carried on borrowing despite agreeing not to.

Conclusion

There are other things that we know of that we could not divulge due to lack of artefacts and promises to our informants not to involve them. If I wanted to go on talking about his misdeeds, this article would have to be written into a book called, “The Running Community Ponzi”. Not sure what Ponzi is? Go google it.

However, these are really good enough reasons for us to run away from Mizuno F1 Runners and CBD Run and disassociate with the team and Lexus Tan.

If we do continue to be on the team, we would be seen as endorsing his unethical way of doing business and supporting his claims to be true – all that people hear is just bad press or another rumour. We would also continue to attract new runners onto the platforms for Lexus to borrow money from. We most definitely do not want to have any association with that.

We uphold integrity, honesty and ethics in business. Therefore, we do not want to just sit back and watch others fall prey to his compulsive borrowing habits. We refuse to be marketing tools to help bring in funds for his mismanaged business. To help him stop this endless cycle of borrowing, we decided the best way forward is to let the necessary authorities intervene while informing members of the public about Lexus Tan.

We have no idea why nobody did anything to warn the community (maybe they did but failed), resulting in so many people becoming victims – having to cope with the stresses of life due to shortage of money, chasing after a supposedly esteemed person for money and losing the zest for running. And now, perhaps becoming more skeptical and cynical about helping someone, which is crippling to building a caring society.

We think we will upset some creditors and maybe lose some friends. However, everyone has a stand to make.

Late actor of Harry Potter, Sirius Black said, “We’ve all got both Light and Dark inside of us. What matters is the part we choose to act on, that’s who we really are.”.

We have decided. What about you?

(Blog has also been posted on http://www.justrunlah.com/blogger/cindyong/)

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