Bangkok police arrests an actor for Bitcoin [BTC] money laundering scheme

According to a local news portal, on 9th August, the Bangkok Police arrested a movie actor for being involved in a cryptocurrency money laundering scheme. Jiratpist Jaravijit, a well-known actor, was arrested during filming for a movie at Major Cineplex Ratchyonthin because of an alleged investment fraud of nearly $97 million worth Bitcoin i.e., 797 million baht.

Along with the actor, his siblings and few other investors are involved in the scheme. They are accused of duping a foreign investor, who is identified to be a Finnish national, Aarni Otava Saarimaa.

They duped the foreigner into sending them Bitcoin [BTC]s by claiming that they would give the complainant shares in a company that has invested in Dragon Coin [DRG]. After the transfer was made through an electronic wallet, the complainant did not receive any of the shares or an invite to be a shareholder for the company. Following which, the Finnish investor filed a complaint at the Crime Suppression Division.

It is noted that the actor has transferred all the money to his relatives. The suspects include businessmen working at the Stock Exchange of Thailand, the actor’s elder sister and brother. On 26th July, the criminal court issued a warrant to arrest the actor under the charge of money-laundering. The police have also received a warrant to arrest the actor’s elder sister and the other suspects will later be charged for public fraud.

However, during the investigation, the suspects did not answer the queries regarding the fraudulent company, Dragon Coin. The actor has also outrightly denied the all the charges.

Pol Colonel Chakrit said:

“Jiratpisit transferred about 400 million baht of the money to his siblings and the money was loaned out with land as collateral. Officials had impounded assets worth about 200 million baht.”

Recently, Thailand released rules and regulations for cryptocurrency and the Thai Securities and Exchange Commission would be in charge of cryptocurrency in the country. The Thai SEC passed 7 cryptocurrencies which could be traded as trading pairs. This includes, Bitcoin [BTC], Bitcoin Cash [BCH], Stellar Lumens [XLM], Ethereum Classic [ETC], Ethereum [ETH], Litecoin [LTC] and XRP [XRP].

Moreover, they also stated that all the companies involved in cryptocurrencies importantly, ICOs have to register with the commission. The ICOs are required to state the type of token which is being issued and the investment information. Following which, the Thai SEC saw an application for registration from almost 50 ICO projects.