A Singaporean man arrested for alleged involvement in the Forex-3D online Ponzi scheme has denied all charges, while his Italian-Thai model wife faces a charge of illegally sheltering the suspect.
Daryl Cai Younghui, 32, told investigators he would provide a written statement within 15 days, according to Maj Akarin Lattathsaksiri, director of the informal financial business unit at the Department of Special Investigation (DSI).
Mr Cai, a close associate of Apirak Kothi, the accused founder of the Ponzi scheme, was arrested on Monday at Phuket airport while waiting to catch a flight to his home country. Mr Apirak was arrested in January 2021 and remains in custody.
The Criminal Court issued a warrant for the arrest of Mr Cai last November for his alleged involvement in the scheme that caused an estimated 2.4 billion baht of financial damage.
The court approved a request by DSI investigators to detain him for 12 days for further questioning. His lawyer applied for bail, putting up 500,000 baht as surety, but the court rejected the request, saying Mr Cai was a flight risk.
Mr Cai and other suspects involved in the Ponzi scheme divided up their tasks but DSI investigators said they could not go into detail. They also declined to say whether the Singaporean suspect’s money trail was linked to that of Mr Apirak.
According to the DSI, Mr Cai colluded with Mr Apirak in operating the Forex-3D scheme to which more than 9,800 people fell prey.
The DSI investigators shrugged off claims by Mr Cai’s lawyer that his client had not yet received a summons to hear the charges, saying they had earlier tried to contact those who were close to him.
A first summons had been sent but nobody received it. However, the suspect sent a lawyer to see DSI officials and this showed that he was aware that the summons had been issued, said Maj Akarin.
Pol Maj Suriya Singhakamol, the acting DSI chief, said investigators have filed a complaint with police against Mr Cai’s wife, Sarah Casinghini, for illegally sheltering the suspect.
Ms Casinghini, an Italian-Thai model, earlier said she was not involved in the Forex-3D scheme. Her husband, she said, had returned to Thailand to try and prove his innocence of any crimes linked to the scheme.
Mr Cai reportedly fled to Singapore on Oct 25 last year after the DSI pressed charges against him.
Forex 3D claimed to be an online dealer in foreign exchange, with a flashy website, but it was ulicensed and operated as a Ponzi scheme. Several celerities have been implicated in the case.