The Crime Suppression Division will lay charges against five people in the 797-million-baht bitcoin fraud case - a TV actor, his two brothers, a big stock investor and a businessman.
CSD deputy commander Chakrit Sawasdee said summonses would be issued on Friday requiring the five suspects to show up on Aug 29 to answer the charges.
The summonses would be for actor Jiratpisit Jaravijit, his elder brother Prinya Jaravijit, his younger brother Tanasit Jaravijit, investor Prasit Srisuwan and businessman Chakris Ahmad. All would be charged with embezzlement
Mr Prinya, who is at large and was thought to be in the United States, would also face a money-laundering charge in the same case.
Under the normal process, a summons would be issued first and if he did not show up he would face an arrest warrant, the deputy commander said.
Pol Col Chakrit said Mr Prinya had sent a message to him via the Line chat app, asking if his lawyer could instead give his written explanation about the case. Mr Prinya insisted he was not fleeing but was abroad on business arranged earlier, the deputy commander said.
Pol Col Chakrit wondered how Mr Prinya knew how to contact him by Line. He said he turned down the request to give a written explanation.
The five people to be charged were only the first group of suspects being lined up for interrogation. Police were still collecting evidence on others, Pol Col Chakrit said.
The CSD deputy commander said Mr Prinya had transferred money to his parents' bank accounts and they had themselves withdrawn millions of baht in each of several transactions at banks. Police were still to decide whether to charge them, he said.
The recent arrest of actor Jiratpisit, also known as Boom, and the surrender of his elder sister Suphitcha Jaravijit on Wednesday, followed a complaint from Aarni Otava Saarimaa, a 22-year-old Finn, and his partner in January that he had be defrauded of 797 million baht worth of bitcoin he transferred to Mr Prinya and his group.
According to the complaint, they believed they were buying shares in three companies and investing in a casino and new cryptocurrency known as Dragon Coins, but had seen no returns at all on the money they put in.
Earlier the actor and his sister were charged with money-laundering and released on bail of 2 million baht each.