Three top executives of iCon Group e-commerce firm may be arrested, while celebrities who have promoted the company’s products could also face legal action, after about 200 investors filed complaints with the Consumer Protection Division police, claiming losses of a combined 70 million baht.
Pol Col Uthen Nuipin, deputy spokesman for the Royal Thai Police, said that he expects the case and the nature of charges against the company and its top executives to become clearer in the next 48 hours.
Potential charges against the executives include undertaking a type of business other than that officially registered, engaging in business seeking investment capital from the public without providing those who pay with a specific product or service, defrauding the public and violations of the Computer Crime Act, said the police colonel, adding that revenue officials are now checking the company’s books.
One of the celebrities allegedly involved, Pakorn Chatborirak, has claimed that he was just a presenter of the company’s products on one-year contract. He said that, in 2020, he was hired by the company’s CEO to be a presenter for food supplements for one year.
After a break of twelve months, he was contracted for another year to promote the company’s coffee brand, he said, adding that he was not employed as an executive of the company.
Meanwhile, iCon Group CEO Waraphol Waratworakul said in his Facebook post today that the company has set up a centre to address losses allegedly sustained by the investors and will invite some “respectable personalities” to assist in solving investor problems.
The company has also removed a huge billboard, featuring its five celebrity presenters, from the Rama 9 Road.
