A court has issued arrest warrants for a foreign businessman and his wife accused of investment fraud and money laundering, with one victim allegedly conned out of over US$30mil (RM117.4mil), police said.
Thailand’s Central Investigation Bureau accused Ben Smith, also identified in news reports as South African Benjamin Mauerberger, and his wife, Cattaliya Beevor, of “cross-border investment fraud” dating back to 2016, according to a statement from the bureau on Monday.
Media reports have previously linked Smith to transnational scam operations in Cambodia, part of a multibillion-dollar illicit industry that has ballooned in the region.
Thailand’s Caretaker Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul – who told reporters in December that he knew Smith “but was not close” to him – said on Monday that the warrants were in line with the government’s policy of cracking down on scammers and money launderers “regardless of who they are”.
A criminal court issued the arrest warrants on fraud and money laundering charges on Thursday.
Smith, 47, and Beevor, 40, were accused of deceiving an unnamed foreign victim into investing in stocks, real estate, a private jet and energy businesses, building credibility until the victim “believed the schemes and transferred more than one billion baht”, the investigation bureau said.
The CIB said Smith portrayed himself as an investment expert and promised returns up to 11%.
Last week, authorities moved to confiscate assets worth more than US$410mil (RM1.6 trillion) from Smith and other individuals accused of fraud, the kingdom’s Anti-Money Laundering Office said.
Last year, the “Whale Hunting” investigative newsletter reported that Smith once ran a “boiler room” fraud operation from Thailand, calling him a former “two-bit scammer” who went on to become a “shadow financial kingpin”.
A legal representative for Smith, Witoon Kengngan, did not immediately reply to a request for comment yesterday. — AFP
