A man in Singapore has lost a court case to get back hundreds of thousands of dollars of gifts that he had showered on his ex-girlfriend. The man, Mr X, is a company CEO. His ex, Ms Y, was a flight attendant. The two met during a flight in 2019. Mr X became besotted with Ms Y and started giving her lavish gifts to win her affection. He said he also gave her cash "loans". The court said the value of the presents and additional loans amounted to $369,200. The presiding judge said that Mr X had "displayed a consistent pattern of showering [Ms Y] with lavish gifts". The judge said there had been no expectation that Ms Y would have to repay any of the money or return the gifts.

The couple were involved in a romantic relationship for just over a year. They split up after Mr X suspected Ms Y of having an affair. He argued in court that his ex-partner had requested interest-free loans to repay her credit cards and life insurance premiums, to pay for overseas trips, and to seek the advice of a feng shui master to assess her apartment. However, there was no documentary evidence to prove this. Ms Y said all gifts were "made out of love and affection". The judge concluded that Mr X had been "smitten" by Ms Y. He added: "Unfortunately, when their relationship ended on a sour note, [Mr X] became embittered and was determined to extract a price from [Ms Y]."