Thai woman in $32M luxury goods scam to plead guilty in October

Pansuk Siriwipa, 29, will plead guilty on Oct 21, following a pre-trial conference held for her case on Aug 2.

Pansuk faces more than 180 charges, including cheating, money laundering and misappropriating luxury watches worth more than $198,000.

The case of her husband, Singaporean Pi Jiapeng, 28, is still at the pre-trial conference stage.

No date has been set for him to plead guilty. However, according to the court system, his defence counsel is expected to provide the court with an update when his case is heard again on Aug 30.

Pi faces nine charges, including possessing a luxury sports car believed to have been obtained using tainted funds and abetting Pansuk in moving $260,000 out of Singapore without declaring it to the authorities.

Pi and Pansuk have been in remand for almost two years since they were arrested on Aug 11, 2022, after being on the run for more than a month.

The couple made headlines in July 2022 after at least 180 police reports were lodged against their businesses Tradenation and Tradeluxury.

Their clients had made advance payments for luxury watches and luxury bags, but Pi and Pansuk allegedly failed to deliver the goods. The items included Rolex and Patek Philippe watches and Hermes bags.

The couple are both accused of taking orders for luxury watches and collecting payments amounting to more than $24.7 million from customers of Tradenation between March and June 2022. They allegedly knew the company could not fulfil the orders, given its financial state.

Pansuk is also accused of taking orders for luxury bags and collecting payments of $946,948 from customers of Tradeluxury when she knew the orders could not be fulfilled.

Pi was arrested on June 27, 2022, for his suspected involvement in cheating offences. His passport was impounded and he was released on bail the next day.

Pansuk was not arrested then but was assisting with police investigations. She surrendered her passport on June 30.

The couple then became uncontactable and fled Singapore in the container compartment of a lorry on July 4.

Warrants of arrest and Interpol red notices were issued against them.

On Aug 10, the Singapore Police Force received information from the Royal Thai Police that the couple might be staying at a hotel in Johor Bahru.

They were arrested the next day at the hotel and brought back to Singapore that evening.

Nadine Chua

The Straits Times

Asia News Network