The screening committee of the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) has classified iCon Group’s business model as a pyramid scheme, in breach of the Emergency Decree on Borrowing.
The committee also recommended that the DSI file charges of operating a pyramid scheme against the executives and core members of the e-commerce company, who are currently being held on remand on charges of defrauding the public.
Pol Cpt Wissanu Chimtrakul, DSI deputy director-general, told the media that the screening committee’s decision and recommendation will be submitted to the acting director-general for consideration.
He said that the pyramid scheme case will be separated from the money laundering case which is also being investigated by the DSI.
Wissanu said that the DSI has asked the attorney-general to join its investigation as a legal advisor and has also sought guidance from experts in other fields.
Regarding the evidence submitted to the DSI by the lawyer for iCon Group CEO Waratphol Waratvorakul, alleging that some of the investors who claim to have lost money of being involved in the scam, he said the DSI will look into the conduct of each individual to determine their true status.
Meanwhile, Central Investigation Bureau officers have seized a Mercedes Benz, which was purchased last year by one of the 18 detained suspects and sold to a Chinese national in the middle of this year.
A pyramid scheme is a multi-level marketing business model where members pay a fee to invest in the business and are then, in turn, promised payments for recruiting other people to likewise invest in and join the business.
It typically involves offering products for sale. Investors are, however, rarely able to earn satisfactory returns solely by selling the company’s products. To make money, they must recruit a certain number of new investors below themselves. Not only that, but each person they recruit must also recruit a certain number of people, each of whom pays an entry fee or joining fee and a monthly fee to maintain their membership.
(Source: Corporate Finance Institute)
