The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) insisted Wednesday it has formally requested the extradition of fugitive former monk Luang Pu Nen Kham from the US.
The decision on whether he is sent back to Thailand rests with US authorities, it said.
The DSI was responding to reports the renegade monk, who now goes by his layman'a name, Wirapol Sukphol, has been granted permanent residency in the US.
Mr Wirapol, 35, was defrocked in absentia after allegations of criminal behaviour and a high-flying lifestyle emerged in 2013.
The residency claim stems from an interview Mr Wirapol gave to exiled anti-coup journalist Jom Petchpradub which was uploaded by an online news outlet, Thai Voice Media, on Youtube.
The former monk says he has become a US permanent resident and intended to establish a new Buddhist sect for his followers in San Diego.
Pol Lt Col Phong-in Intharakhao, deputy director of the DSI, said the department submitted a formal request last year with the US to have Mr Wirapol extradited.
The DSI said Mr Wirapol was facing several criminal charges including fraud, violating the Computer Crime Act, molestation and rape of a minor and money laundering, Pol Lt Col Phong-in said.
Phanom Sorsil, director of the National Office of Buddhism, declined to comment on Mr Wirapol's intention to form a new sect, saying he had already been defrocked and the former monk was not his office's problem any more.
The Thai Voice Media clip showed Mr Wirapol, still dressed as a monk, presiding over the laying of a cornerstone for a pavilion on a plot of land in California where he was building a monastery for his new sect. The monastery is called Wat Pa Khantibarami.
According to the report, the monastery would be registered as a foundation and it is due to open next year.
In the clip, Mr Wirapol said he had changed his monkhood name, Luang Pu Nen Kham to Phra Wimuttiyan.
He claimed he had been designated as a political asylum seeker and had now been granted a green card to live legally in the US.
Commenting on the 380 million baht in assets which the DSI says it seized from him, Mr Wirapol said he had transferred most of his assets out of Thailand before the DSI could grab them.
A fleet of luxury cars were owned through nominees while he still owned and used a private jet, the report said.
The report also claimed the former monk had spent at least US$30 million (1.1 billion baht) adapting to his new life in the US.