Court rules against man who sued ex-girlfriend for cost of lavish gifts
Singapore's high court ruled in the woman's favour, with the judge saying the S$468,00 ($369,000) he attempted to recover was "willingly" spent.
A Singaporean man has lost a court battle to recover hundreds of thousands of dollars he had spent generously on his ex-girlfriend while they were in a relationship.
The S$468,00 ($369,000) that Chander Agarwal tried to reclaim from Felicia Lee was money he had "willingly" spent on her, the Singapore High Court ruled.
Senior Judge Lee Seiu Kin said Agarwal had "displayed a consistent pattern of showering [Lee] with lavish gifts" even before they became a couple, and would assure her that he did not expect to be repaid.
Agarwal, the CEO of a logistics company, met Felicia Lee, a former flight attendant, on a flight in 2019. The court heard that they were romantically involved from September 2022 to December 2023.
Their relationship broke down after Agarwal suspected Lee of having an affair.
Agarwal, who filed the lawsuit in March 2024, said Lee had "requested various interest-free loans" from him during the course of their relationship.
He claimed these included S$206,000 in credit card charges, S$129,000 for overseas trips, S$17,000 to hire a fengshui master for her apartment, and S$20,000 to cover her life insurance premiums.
Lee said the payments were "gifts made out of love and affection" rather than loans.
Siding with Lee, the judge said Agarwal’s case lacked documentary evidence — for example, he was unable to provide proof that Lee had acknowledged receiving the loans she was said to have requested.
"The evidence before me clearly shows that the claimant, smitten by the defendant, had showered her with expensive gifts during their relationship," the judge said.
"Unfortunately, when their relationship ended on a sour note, [Agarwal] became embittered and was determined to extract a price from her."
The judge also said Agarwal was "clearly a man of ample means who has expensive tastes", unlike Lee, "who was not in that league".
In numerous text messages, Lee had "expressed her awe when [Agarwal] suggested expensive gifts, and on occasion, her spontaneous reluctance to accept them", he noted.
In his written judgment, the judge quoted English playwright William Congreve, who wrote in his tragedy satire The Mourning Bride: "Heav'n has no rage, like love to hatred turn'd, nor hell a fury, like a woman scorn'd."
"This case shows that such emotion is not the sole province of one gender," he said.
In early 2023, another Singaporean man filed two lawsuits — in claims totaling more than S$3 million — against a woman who turned down his romantic advances.
K Kawshigan said Nora Tan's rejection caused him emotional trauma and damaged his reputation.
The Singapore courts struck out his suits. Tan later counter-sued Kawshigan to recover expenses she said she had incurred while defending herself against his alleged harassment.