Finnish businessman in $24M Thai BTC scam begins settlement talks

Aarni Otavi Saarimaa, a Finnish businessman who lost 5,564 BTC in a scam in Thailand, is poised to receive compensation after he began the settlement talks with some of the suspects.

The Bangkok Post reported that Saarimaa is already in negotiations with Prasit Srisuwan, a Thai stock investor, and Chakris Ahmad, a tech investor. The two were linked to the cryptocurrency fraud case, although Srisuwan claimed he was only a facilitator and that his roles were restricted to brokerage duties between Saarimaa and DNA 2002 Plc, the company owned by Prinya Jaravijit, who was identified as the chief suspect in the case.

Srisuwan previously said he met the victim through Jaravijit, who set up a deal with Saarimaa and his girlfriend, Chonnikan Kaeokasee, to invest in crypto– and blockchain-related businesses “with good growth prospects.”

Under Thai laws, fraudulent cases can be settled between parties. If the negotiations are successful, Saarimaa could withdraw the criminal complaints filed against Srisuwan and Ahmad. Saarimaa did not disclose the minutes of his meeting the two, although he did say that his “talks with them [the two suspects] turned out to be very satisfactory.”

Srisuwan and Ahmad were accused or luring Saarimaa into investing his BTC in three companies—ExpaySoftware, NX Chain Inc and DNA 2002. The suspects, including Jaravijit, reportedly made off with 797 million baht (almost $24 million) from the investors, who never received any dividends afterwards. No shareholders’ meetings ever took place either.

Saarimaa filed a complaint against Jaravijit, who he claimed was in cohorts with his brother, Thai actor Jiratpisit “Boom” Jaravijit, and sister, Supitcha Jaravijit. According to authorities, Jaravijit’s parents were also in possession of some of funds.

The case, first reported by Saarimaa in January, raised lots of media attention as both the police and Thailand’s Anti Money Laundering Office made strategic arrests and froze the bank accounts of the suspect’s relatives.

Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.