DSI slaps the iCon Group, 18 executives with 3 new charges
The new charges follow an investigation into the group’s alleged deceptive investment practices and also extend to celebrities hired to participate in fraudulent practices
The Department of Special Investigations (DSI) has come up with three new charges against the iCon Group and its 18 executives for allegedly deceiving people by talking them into making fake investments.
DSI officials read out the new charges to the iCon Group owner Waranthaphon “Boss Paul” Wratyaworrakul and 17 executives being detained at the Bangkok Remand Prison and the Central Women Correctional Institution on Monday.
The three new charges are:
- Violating the 1984 Emergency Decree on Borrowings which are Regarded as Public Cheating and Fraud or implementing a pyramid scheme
- Violating the 2017 Direct Sale and Direct Marketing Act by inviting people to invest in the network
- Violating the Direct Sale Act by performing direct marketing without permission.
Earlier, the 18 executives had been charged with:
- Collaborating to defraud the public
- Collaborating to unlawfully upload distorted or false information in part or whole into a computer system to cause damage to the public
Pol Captain Wissanu Chimtrakul, the DSI deputy director-general, said the department decided to add more charges after further
investigation revealed more evidence of the suspects violating the decree and the direct sale act.
Wissanu said the DSI was convinced that the 18 executives were suspected of conducting a pyramid scheme after it studied the transactions and administrative computer system and saw the overall picture of how the iCon Group carried out its business.
He said the celebrities who had been hired by the company faced the same charges because the DSI believed they also had a hand in deceiving and cheating the public.
Meanwhile, defence lawyer Withoon Kengngam said he had prepared information for the 18 executives to respond to the charges. He claimed the charges could be easily dismissed because they apply to operations that had no goods to sell, while iCon Group did have products to sell.
He also claimed that he has provided the DSI with a list of 700 witnesses, who are willing to testify in defence of the company’s operations.
