Thailand’s Crime Suppression Division proposed Prinya Jaravijit, who is believed to be the mastermind behind the fraudulent crypto scheme, to voluntarily appear before September 17 to surrender. If he does not comply with this requirement, the extradition proceedings will begin.
The investigators had already summoned the suspect to a meeting on September 14, but he did not appear. Jaravijit’s attorney said that he needed more time to collect evidence. However, this is not the first time that the suspect did not appear to law enforcement agencies. Presumably, Prinya Jaravijit is now in the U.S. Therefore, if on Monday he again does not appear before the authorities of Thailand, the beginning of the procedure for his extradition will be considered.
Recall that the Finnish 22-year-old businessman Aarni Otava Saarimaa invested more than 5,500 bitcoins in several Thai projects, but as it turned out, the money was received by fraudsters. It became known that a group of Thais in June 2017 proposed Saarimaa to invest in some Thai stocks, a casino in Macao, and a new cryptocurrency called Dragon Coin. The coin was to be used for casino needs. Scammers even brought a businessman to the casino in order to demonstrate the reality of their promises. After that, Saarimaa transferred 5,564 BTC to the attackers.
However, the crypto millionaire did not wait for any profit and in January 2018, along with his local partner, reported to the Thai police department. After the investigation, the police stated that a group of intruders did not invest the received bitcoins, but exchanged them for Thai baht and distributed funds to several bank accounts. A total of about $24 million was received.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
- Thai police are thoroughly investigating this case. Investigators carefully examined the documents and tracked all the translations. The police took almost seven months to obtain a warrant for the arrest of the first group of suspects.
- Prinya Jaravijit is the only suspect on the run. Other suspects in this case including Prinya’s siblings, have already appeared before the police. Younger brother Prinya, Thai actor J Jiratpisit ‘Boom’ Jarajivit, has already been accused in court, released on bail in $60,000 and was banned from traveling outside the country.