A Thai woman involved in the S$32 million luxury goods scam has been convicted of cheating and money laundering.
Pansuk Siriwipa, 30, masterminded a scheme to defraud and cheat 189 victims, in what the prosecution said was one of the largest scams perpetrated against multiple victims in recent memory.
On Oct 21, Pansuk, who faced 180 charges, pleaded guilty to 30 of them.
These included fraudulent trading charges, where she collected payments for luxury watches and bags amounting to over S$25 million, despite knowing these orders could not be fulfilled.
The remaining 150 charges will be taken into consideration during sentencing on Oct 29.
Her husband, Singaporean Pi Jiapeng, 29, faces nine charges. His case is pending.
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Deputy Public Prosecutor David Koh said Pansuk and Pi got married in September 2020. In May 2021, they started a business called Tradenation to sell luxury watches.
Less than a year later, Pansuk started another company called Tradeluxury for the sale of luxury bags.
Even when the companies started having financial issues, Pansuk continued to accept orders and payment from customers.
Instead of fulfilling orders, Pansuk used the money for a private jet flight with Pi and their friends worth S$58,000. She also bought a house worth over S$2.3 million in Bangkok and a Chevrolet Corvette sports car registered in Pi’s name.
At that time, Pi already owned three other cars – a Toyota Alphard, a McLaren Coupe and a Porsche Macan.
Pansuk also used S$120,000 of customers’ funds to renovate Tradenation’s retail store at Tanjong Pagar.
When the businesses began, Pansuk sourced for luxury goods from Thailand and sold them for lower prices compared to other resellers while still maintaining profits.
However, at the end of 2021 and in early 2022, she had trouble sourcing the goods overseas. She later found them from local suppliers, but had to pay more for the merchandise.
DPP Koh said the companies began to operate at a loss and this left them in a dire financial state.
By the end of March 2022, the companies had cumulative liabilities of over S$9.3 million in unfulfilled orders, while their assets were only worth around S$350,000.
Despite this, Pansuk continued to accept orders for luxury goods.
The prosecutor said the two companies had become a Ponzi scheme, dependent on ensnaring more victims in hopes of making payments or deliveries to existing customers.
On one occasion in May 2022, a customer consigned a Rolex to Tradenation for sale at S$105,000.
In consignment, owners hand over their items to a shop which will help to sell them for a cut of the proceeds. If there is no transaction within a stipulated time, the products are returned to the individuals.
However, Pansuk sold it for S$72,000 and gave some of the money to her husband to pay off his credit card bills and car loans.
When the customer asked about her watch, Pansuk tried to buy time and lied that there was a customer willing to buy it for S$105,000.
The DPP said the customer did not receive payment for her watch.
Between May and August 2022, 187 police reports were filed against Tradenation and Tradeluxury for not fulfilling orders even though payments were made in full.
Seeking a jail term of between 14 and 15 years’ jail for Pansuk, the prosecutor said: “When her companies were racking up significant liabilities, she continued to live large and spent the customers’ funds on luxurious items – not the ones promised to her customers, but for herself.”
DPP Koh added that despite the companies’ dire financial situation, Pansuk continued to draw a monthly salary of S$10,000 and to pay Pi a salary ranging from S$40,000 to S$52,000 monthly.
“(Pansuk) was bankrolling her lavish lifestyle through the funds that she had cheated from the victims. Her motivations were entirely self-centred, which can only be said to heighten her culpability,” the prosecutor added.
Her defence lawyers, Johannes Hadi and Sophia Ng, argued for a term of 12 years and 8 months to 13 years and 7 months.
They said their client is remorseful for her actions, and that she was the one who asked the man who helped her flee Singapore to inform the authorities that she would surrender.
“Pansuk then waited outside a hotel in Malaysia for the police to arrive and place her under arrest,” said the lawyers in mitigation.
Pi and Pansuk have been in remand for more than two years since they were arrested on Aug 11, 2022, after being on the run for more than a month.
They had fled from Singapore to Malaysia in a container compartment of a lorry on July 4, 2022, while investigations were ongoing.
Two Malaysians who helped the couple escape were each sentenced to a year’s jail in September 2022.
On Aug 10, the Singapore Police Force received information from the Royal Thai Police that the couple was staying at a hotel in Johor Bahru.
They were arrested the next day at the hotel and brought back to Singapore that evening. THE STRAITS TIMES