True Group's founder kept selling memberships into closures — court found breaches

On July 5, 2022, Singapore's High Court found Patrick Wee — who founded True Yoga in 2004 and was fired as group CEO in May 2018 — in breach of his contractual and director's duties over the abrupt June 2017 closures of True Group's Malaysia and Thailand operations. Justice Choo Han Teck ruled that despite knowing the two businesses were financially distressed and heading for closure, Wee did not stop selling long-term membership packages.

In May 2017 True Group (Malaysia) sold 43 new memberships on plans of one to five years, and True Group (Thailand) was still selling up to three-year terms into the first week of June. Staff were told of the closure only days before; members only on the day itself. A notice on May 10, 2017 claimed the Subang Club was closed for renovations — it was in fact shut because a court bailiff was seizing its inventory. Days before the Thailand shutdown, Wee resigned his directorship, leaving the wife of his friend’s tailor, appointed back in January, to face the winding-up and creditors’ claims.

The judge found Wee ought to have known members would be outraged upon closure, damaging True Group’s reputation and businesses elsewhere, and that failing to offer members alternative options compounded the damage; his conduct suggested he was more concerned with evading responsibility than dealing with the consequences. Losses the group can claim will be determined later; Wee partly succeeded in a counterclaim for unpaid salary worth $62,660.70. The suit was brought by three group companies after Tongfang Kontafarma bought stakes in May 2017 — excluding Malaysia and Thailand.

A High Court finding that Wee breached contractual and director's duties, damages still to be assessed, plus reputational damage in two markets and member losses.

Selling one-to-five-year memberships while planning closure turns members' prepayments into liabilities with no service behind them.

Labelling a bailiff's seizure as a renovation misled members about the company's true position — deception the court specifically cited.

Closing with no alternative options for members magnified the reputational fallout across the group's surviving markets.

Handing the Thailand directorship to a friend's tailor's wife and resigning days before the shutdown read to the judge as evading responsibility.

When a market is failing, every membership sold past the point of no return is a liability the company eventually answers for — in court, and in every market where the brand still operates.

The quantum of losses the group can claim from Wee was to be determined at a later date; the group's website then listed more than 25 clubs in Singapore and Taiwan under the TFX, True Fitness and Urban Den brands. In September 2026 — a separate case — the same chain's True Fitness and True Yoga businesses were placed under provisional liquidation while still marketing multi-year memberships, stranding prepaid members across Singapore.