December 31 2017
The Criminal Court has sentenced Phudis Kittitharadilok to a jail term of 6,637 years on multiple embezzlement charges involving more than 2,600 victims who were lured into pyramid money schemes that caused combined financial damage of 5.3bil baht.
The court ruled that Phudis, director of The System Plug and Play Co and Innovation Holding Co, was guilty of violating the Criminal Code, fraudulent money scheme laws and anti-money-laundering laws on a total of 2,653 counts, each of which carries a jail term of five years, or a total jail term of 13,256 years.
Because the defendant had confessed to wrongdoing, the court reduced the jail term by half to 6,637 years, but the law permits a maximum punishment of only 20 years.