14 years’ jail for Thai woman in $32m luxury goods scam

A Thai woman who masterminded a scheme to cheat almost 200 victims in a luxury goods scam was sentenced to 14 years’ jail on Oct 29.

Pansuk Siriwipa, 30, who joined court proceedings via video-link, looked down and nodded her head when the judge read out the sentence.

On Oct 21, Pansuk pleaded guilty to 30 charges, including for cheating and fraudulent trading where she collected payments for luxury bags and watches amounting to over $25 million, despite knowing these orders could not be fulfilled.

She faced a total of 180 charges, with the remaining 150 charges taken into consideration during sentencing.

Pansuk and her Singaporean husband Pi Jiapeng, 29, made headlines in 2022 as the couple involved in the $32 million luxury goods scam.

Between May and August that year, 187 police reports were filed against their companies Tradenation and Tradeluxury for not fulfilling orders even though payments were made in full.

Pi faces nine charges. His case is pending.

Pansuk and Pi got married in September 2020. In May 2021, they started Tradenation to sell luxury watches.

Less than a year later, Pansuk started Tradeluxury to sell luxury bags.

Even when the companies had financial issues, she continued accepting orders and payments from customers.

Instead of fulfilling orders, Pansuk used the money for a private jet flight with Pi and their friends worth $58,000. She also bought a house worth more than $2.3 million in Bangkok and a Chevrolet Corvette registered in Pi’s name.

Pi already owned three other cars then – a Toyota Alphard, a McLaren Coupe and a Porsche Macan.

Pansuk also used $120,000 of customers’ funds to renovate Tradenation’s retail store in Tanjong Pagar.

When the businesses began, Pansuk sourced luxury goods from Thailand and sold them at lower prices compared with other resellers, while still maintaining profits.

But at the end of 2021 and in early 2022, she had trouble sourcing the goods overseas. She later obtained them from local suppliers, but paid more for the merchandise.

Deputy Public Prosecutor David Koh said by the end of March 2022, the companies had cumulative liabilities of more than $9.3 million in unfulfilled orders, while their assets were worth only around $350,000.

Despite this, Pansuk continued accepting orders for luxury goods.

DPP Koh said the two companies had become a Ponzi scheme, ensnaring more victims in hopes of making payments or deliveries to existing customers.

On one occasion in May 2022, a customer consigned a Rolex to Tradenation to sell for $105,000.

In consignment, owners hand over their items to a shop, which will sell them for a cut of the proceeds. If there is no transaction within a stipulated time, the products are returned to the owners.

However, Pansuk sold the Rolex for $72,000 and gave some of the money to Pi to pay off his credit card bills and car loans.

DPP Koh sought a jail term of between 14 and 15 years’ jail and argued that despite the companies’ dire financial situation, Pansuk continued to draw a monthly salary of $10,000 and pay Pi a salary ranging from $40,000 to $52,000 monthly.

Her lawyers, Mr Johannes Hadi and Ms Sophia Ng, argued for a jail term ranging from 12 years and eight months to 13 years and seven months.

During investigations, Pansuk and Pi fled from Singapore to Malaysia in a lorry’s container compartment on July 4, 2022.

Two Malaysians who helped them escape were each sentenced to a year’s jail in September 2022.