The pyramid scandal that’s rocking Thailand

[reader]

For the past few months it was been difficult not to find a daily news accounts of a pyramid scheme that is said to have scammed over 1,000 locals. Assets amounting to $3,8 mln USD have been seized.

———-

From Bangkok Post

Pyramid scheme charges filed against 18 The iCon Group suspects 

Warathaphon ‘Boss Paul’ Waratyaworrakul, founder and CEO of The iCon Group, is escorted by police from the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) to the Criminal Court in Bangkok on Oct 18. (Photo: Nutthawat Wichieanbut) 

The Department of Special Investigation additionally charged 18 detained suspects of The iCon Group with pyramid scheme and direct sales law violations.

DSI deputy secretary-general Wisanu Chimtrakool said that DSI officials pressed the additional charges against the 18 suspects at the Bangkok Remand Prison and the Central Women Correctional Institution in Bangkok on Monday.

They were charged with violating the Law on Loan Amounting to Public Cheating and Fraud (also known as the pyramid scheme law) and the Direct Sales and Marketing Act in addition to public fraud and computer crime charges placed earlier by police.

Pol Capt Wisanu said that the DSI had consulted its plan on the additional charges with representatives from the Fiscal Policy Office and the Consumer Protection Board and collected enough evidence for the latest charges.

“They had work processes and different roles… The combined roles shared the same objective that was public fraud-oriented borrowing,” the deputy secretary-general said.

According to its statement released on Monday, the DSI said the suspects collaborated as they had teams of executives, team leaders who invited others to invest in The iCon Group business and teams of celebrities who presented their wealth from the business.

The suspects operated direct sales and marketing business in the way that people were invited to join business networks with a promise to offer returns in exchange for their subsequent recruitment of other network members.

Moreover, the suspects operated a direct sales business without a licence, according to the DSI statement.

Withoon Kengngan, lawyer of the detained suspects, said on Monday that the business of the group was not a pyramid scheme.

A pyramid scheme would not have had genuine business activities, would have paid money collected from older network members to new members and would not have had any merchandise, he said.

The suspects were ready to expose the back-office system of The iCon Group to prove their innocence, the lawyer said.

He also said he prepared about 3,000 defence witnesses for authorities to question.

Police arrested the 18 suspects including The iCon Group chief executive officer Warathaphon “Boss Paul” Waratyaworrakul and several celebrities last month for public fraud and putting false information into a computer system.

They have been detained at the Bangkok Remand Prison and the Central Women Correctional Institution since.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2900196/pyramid-scheme-charges-filed-against-18-the-icon-group-suspects
 

 

[Riobard]

Thailand is taking proposals for a single product manufacturing plant for domestic use as well as export. 

[Travelingguy]

I find it funny that he’s got two officers holding onto him. I would’ve just put him in handcuffs or shackles. Then I wouldn’t have to worry about chasing him later on.

[khaolakguy]

I think that this is the second "icon" group in Thailand that has been accused of fraud, although this seems much larger than the previous one. I would avoid investing or being involved with any "icon" group.