On the recommendation of Thailand's Department of Special Investigation (DSI), Thai prosecutors yesterday (Tuesday) decided to charge eight suspects, including a celebrity couple, in connection with the Forex-3D Ponzi scheme.

The DSI has closed its investigation into a third group of 16 suspects, but agreed to recommend that prosecutors charge half of them, They include Pattanapon 'DJ Man' Kunjara Na Ayudhaya (now Minthakhin) and his singer wife Suteewan 'Baitoey' Thaweesin.

The DSI's findings were submitted to the public prosecutor and after reviewing the findings, they agreed to charge the eight suspects. All were later released on bail by prosecutors.

For the remaining suspects in the ring, the DSI, together with the prosecutor, decided not to prosecute because their testimony was deemed credible that they were not involved in the forex futures investment that was exposed as a Ponzi scheme.

Two other groups have also been indicted. The second group includes Thai actress Savika Chaiyadej, who is currently out on bail.

Separately, Mr Daryl Cai Younghui, a 32-year-old Singaporean who was a close associate of Apirak Kothi, founder of the notorious Forex-3D Ponzi scheme, was arrested at Phuket International Airport on January 16 while waiting to board a flight back to his home country. Thailand's criminal court denied him bail.

The Forex-3D investment scam was created by a brokerage firm called RMS Familia, which was founded in 2015 with Apiruk Kothi as CEO. Several other companies were also formed, with Apiruk holding shares in all of them, allegedly to launder money received from investors.

Through extensive advertising campaigns and celebrity recruitment, Forex-3D even advertised to offer investors a return of around 10% per month with a minimum investment of 5,000 baht.

In 2019, the company began to have liquidity problems, causing it to default on returns for some investors. As new investment dwindled, companies were unable to pay all the promised returns to existing investors. The total amount of money involved is as high as 40 billion baht, and the number of people cheated has exceeded 30,000.