November 21, 2024 | 8:31am
MANILA, Philippines — Several Thai stars have been named in a pyramid selling and fraud case.
Actress Pechaya “Min” Wattanamontree, Kan Kantathavorn and Yuranunt “Sam” Pamornmontri were reportedly among the 18 who were taken into custody for their alleged ties to the e-commerce company the iCon Group.
The iCon Group Founder and Chief Executive Officer Warathaphon “Boss Paul” Waratyaworrakul was taken into custody last October 16 to give his statement about his business, which is being investigated for alleged pyramid selling and fraud.
The Bangkok Post reported that Thailand’s Criminal Court approved the warrant of arrests for Warathaphon and 17 others on charges of public fraud and putting false information into a computer system.
The e-commerce site sold health and dietary supplements. There are reportedly more than 1,100 people who have filed fraud complaints against the iCon Group.
According to the Bangkok Post report, iCon offered cheap online sales courses. Once interested parties were enrolled, they were allegedly asked for more money to buy the products. They were also allegedly asked for “larger” financial commitments to help advertise for new recruits.
The suspects were called “Boss” in iCon’s marketing hierarchy.
Police investigation and Thailand’s Anti-money Laundering Office investigated the financial records of the 18 suspects, particulary the three Thai stars.
Their initial investigation showed that Kan received 33 money transfers totalling 79.48 million Baht (P135 million) from the iCon Group from 2021 to 2024. Min received nine transfers for a total of 11.39 million Baht (P19 million) from 2023 to 2024, while Yuranunt had two transfers from 2023 to 2024 amounting to 3.19 million Baht (P5 million).
All the suspects denied all the charges.
The Bangkok Post said that a source familiar with the investigation said that the payments received by the three celebrities were “apparently” seen as “shares” of the company’s revenue. These were different from the money paid to other Thai actors Pakorn “Boy” Chaborirak and Pakorn “Dome” Lam, who were tapped as “presenters” under yearly contracts.
Thailand’s Department of Social Investigation has filed additional charges against the 18 suspects last November 11.
They were charged with violating the Law on Loan Amounting to Public Cheating and Fraud (Pyramid Scheme Law) and the Direct Sales and Marketing Act in addition to their earlier charges of public fraud and computer crime filed by the police.
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