Success Story #3: Fraud

THAILAND BAIL SAVES CLIENTS $464,500 USD (14,400,000 THAI BAHT), NO JAIL TIME

(Note: Thailand Bail respects the privacy of all of its clients and never discloses personal details about anyone who contacts us for consultation or legal services. Assumed names are used in these accounts in order to protect the privacy of these defendants).

 

SUMMARY

Thailand Bail was hired to work on a very large fraud and IT crimes case, involving the defendants being accused of defrauding someone of 16.9 million Thai baht (about $545,100 USD). The bail lawyers went through the legal process of applying for bail, which was denied due to the large damages involved. After beginning to prepare for defense in court, Thailand Bail’s lawyers realized that the defendants would probably be found guilty of the crimes, so we asked the court to schedule an official compromise session. At the compromise, our lawyers were able to negotiate down the damages from 16.9 million Thai baht all the way to 2.5 million Thai baht, including a suspended sentence (no more jail time).


BACKGROUND

This case involved certain confidential people whose details cannot be described publicly in Thailand. What can be described is that 2 foreigners were arrested following a lengthy undercover sting operation by the Thai DSI (Department of Special Investigation – like the US’s FBI). A family member of one of the defendants got in touch with one of Thailand Bail’s international case specialists through our website and described the situation to him. At this time, we did not know the full details of who the complainant was. This would prove to be very important for later legal proceedings, including the reasons why bail was denied.

The second defendant initially hired some shady Thai lawyers who promised to make the charges “go away” if they could provide a large amount of money. Of course, as is the case with most of these so-called lawyers is that they “take the money and run” and foreigners in Thailand have little recourse. After working with the first defendant for several weeks and seeing our lawyers and case specialists at the jail twice per week, the second defendant’s family hired us as well.

The crimes that the two defendants were accused of were fraud and crimes using a computer. These are two separate crimes, each with its own penalties and remedies. With damages totaling close to 17,000,000 THB, and since the defendants were foreigners, there was a significant challenge presented to Thailand Bail’s legal team.

The defendants were being held at the Klong Prem Prison Bangkok Remand Center in northern Bangkok, Thailand. Conditions were poor, with one defendant witnessing the death of another prisoner in the same cell. The court in charge of this case was the Southern Criminal Court of Bangkok.


EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCES

After consulting the legal team, we immediately went about trying to post bail. Bail was denied because of the large amount of money that was essentially stolen from the complainant. As our lawyers worked hard on this case, they realized that the people we were up against could probably not be beat – they had the full power of the Royal Thai Police, the public prosecutor, the public prosecutor’s boss, and the Thai DSI.


PLAN “B”

Because of the obviously difficult odds that we were up against, we advised our clients that the best way to get out of this situation would be to approach the public prosecutor and the judge with the idea of a court-approved negotiation session. This compromise session was set up at the Southern Criminal Court of Thailand and was attended by the 2 defendants, the public prosecutor, the judge, the secondary judge, 2 of Thailand Bail’s negotiation lawyers, 1 of Thailand Bail’s international case specialists, and family and friends of one of the defendants.


SUCCESS

Amazingly, the negotiation lawyers were able to settle at just 2.5 million THB, down from 16.9 million THB, a reduction of 85%! In total, Thailand Bail’s lawyers saved our clients 14,400,000 Thai Baht ($464,500 USD) in this compromise session. In addition to the savings, our defendants were set to receive suspended sentences as well. This means that they would not have to spend any more time in prison in Thailand.


REVIEW

Client: Confidential

Prison: Klong Prem Bangkok Remand Center

City: Bangkok, Thailand

Suspected Crime: Fraud amounting to $545,100 USD, crimes committed using a computer

Result: 85% reduction in damages to be paid back to the complainant, suspended sentence (no additional jail time in Thailand)

 

If you or your loved one has a case similar to this, we can help. Please contact us today to find out how. If your case is different from this one, please review our sample cases to find one closer to your own.