Thai businessman Prasit Jeawkok has been sentenced to 806 years and 8 months in prison for running large-scale fraudulent loan schemes that defrauded hundreds of investors, though under Thai law he will serve only 20.
The Criminal Court on Dec. 25 ruled that Prasit, former chairman of the “Return Goodness to the Land” project, defrauded the public by luring victims into illegal loan and investment programs through his companies Nuea Lok and Web Sawasdee Public, Bangkok Post reported.
Prosecutors said the scheme violated the Public Borrowing Act and Computer Crime Act, with investigators finding a widespread operation drawing in large numbers of people. The court convicted Prasit on 242 counts of fraud, each carrying a five-year sentence, adding up to 1,210 years. However, the court later commuted his sentence to 806 years and 8 months thanks to him being cooperative.
Both companies were also fined 121 million baht ($3.87 million) each, later reduced to around 80 million baht due to partial cooperation, The Nation reported.
Another defendant, Wimgrit, was found guilty of supporting the operation and received a total sentence of more than 111 years, later reduced to 74 years and 8 months.
Despite the massive penalties, Thai law caps actual jail time at 20 years.
The court also ordered Prasit, Wimgrit, and the two companies to compensate 267 victims.
This is not Prasit’s first conviction; in July 2023, he was handed a 1,155-year sentence in a separate fraud case, also limited to 20 years, and was ordered to repay over one billion baht.
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