1.6 billion baht in assets seized from Canadian mafia figure who died in police custody

[webfact]

file photo

 

Thailand's public prosecutors said they had seized 1.6 billion baht in assets from a Canadian mafia figure who died in custody and his associates. 

 

Alexander Cazes, the founder of AphaBay - a darknet service mixed up in drugs - was found dead from an apparent suicide after his arrest in Thailand following moves by the Thai, US and Canadian authorities in 2017. 

 

More recently the Taling Chan court issued asset seizure orders for the group's property in Thailand.

 

A Lamborghini Aventador worth 45 million baht, a Porsche worth 10 million, a Mini worth five million, a BMW bike worth one million, a house in Pin Klao worth 100 million, an 8 million baht house in Phuttamonthon Sai 3 and a 200 million baht villa in Phuket were among the assets seized.

 

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In addition 911 Bitcoins worth 1.24 billion were seized making a grand total of 1,657,000,000 worth of assets, reported Naew Na. 

 

Other assets were sought by the US authorities in California stashed in Liechtenstein, Cyprus and the West Indies.

 

Now the Thai government will be negotiating with the US authorities over which country gets what from the assets. 

 

-- © Copyright  ASEAN NOW 2022-05-10

 

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[mtls2005]

11 minutes ago, webfact said:

A Lamborghini Aventador worth 45 million baht, a Porsche worth 10 million, a Mini worth five million, a BMW bike worth one million,

Too bad the local Joe Ferrari dealership will miss out on these gems.

 

30% (of the auction proceeds) go directly to the police, and another 25% goes to other official, including the police.

 

Let's hope the BMW bike isn't used by a policeman to kill a citizen.

 

 

[webfact]

Police Seize Large Assets From Deceased AlphaBay Founder

by Paul Rujopakarn

 

    

BANGKOK (NNT) - The Royal Thai Police have seized assets worth nearly US$21 million (725 million baht) belonging to the late founder of the darknet marketplace AlphaBay, who died in a Bangkok jail earlier this month.

 

25-year-old Canadian citizen Alexandre Cazes was arrested in Thailand on July 5 at the request of the United States.

 

Police confirmed that Cazes was the administrator of AlphaBay, an online marketplace for illegal goods ranging from computer hacking tools to drugs and weapons. The site was widely regarded as the largest online black market for drugs, with daily transactions estimated to total hundreds of thousands of dollars.

 

According to Pol Gen Chalermkiat Sriworakan, the deputy national police chief, Cazes was found dead in his cell at the Narcotics Suppression Bureau in Bangkok on July 12, prior to his scheduled extradition to the United States.

 

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Pol Gen Chalermkiat said Cazes was facing charges for drug distribution, identity theft, money laundering and other offenses at the time of his death.

 

Some members of the online community referred to Cazes as "DeSnake" and the media reported that he operated primarily from Thailand, where he owned multiple properties and had international connections. His arrest was the result of a police operation known as Bayonet that involved authorities from six nations including the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Dutch National Police and Royal Thai Police.

 

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said last week that AlphaBay was the largest dark web marketplace in history.

 

 

-- © Copyright NNT 2022-05-10

 

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[Ohyesuare]

Got to enjoy the good life at such a young age for awhile at least. Very hard to believe a "mastermind" would leave his laptop unlocked/unencrypted and logged in as administrator so all his assets can be so easily seized. Seems like his wife and in-laws will be left with nothing too if they are seizing all the properties, money and vehicles.

[Mr Meeseeks]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Cazes was found dead in his cell at the Narcotics Suppression Bureau in Bangkok on July 12, prior to his scheduled extradition to the United States.

Fishy. 

[Reposed]

13 minutes ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

Fishy. 

More like they were worried about rats.

 

They don't call it Narcotics Suppression for nothin'.

[mikeymike100]

45 minutes ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

Fishy. 

Where there any plastic bags lying around?

[Kinnock]

52 minutes ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

Fishy. 

As Captain Blackadder would say, "Baldrick, this smells more fishy than a fisherman's wellington filled with Haddock and doused in fish sauce".  If he'd been extradited, would they still have been able to seize his assets?

[Moonlover]

11 minutes ago, Kinnock said:

As Captain Blackadder would say, "Baldrick, this smells more fishy than a fisherman's wellington filled with Haddock and doused in fish sauce".  If he'd been extradited, would they still have been able to seize his assets?

It would be pretty difficult for any other authority to seize assets such as cars and real estate wouldn't it.

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

A Lamborghini Aventador worth 45 million baht, a Porsche worth 10 million, a Mini worth five million, a BMW bike worth one million, a house in Pin Klao worth 100 million, an 8 million baht house in Phuttamonthon Sai 3 and a 200 million baht villa in Phuket were among the assets seized.

Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way....

[Aussieroaming]

These assets have been snatched, tagged and notionally divvied up and will shortly be be laundered into legitimate assets by the persons being gifted a cut of the bounty. Who says that pirates don't exist in modern Thailand.

[RichardColeman]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

The Royal Thai Police have seized assets worth nearly US$21 million (725 million baht)

Declared seized , or declared found ?

[Freddy42OZ]

18 hours ago, webfact said:

the late founder of the darknet marketplace AlphaBay, who died in a Bangkok jail earlier this month.

Posted 3 hours ago and says he died earlier this month, but then it says "Cazes was found dead in his cell at the Narcotics Suppression Bureau in Bangkok on July 12"  

So is he going to die on July 12th? (in the future) or did he die on July 12 last year and it's only just been reported?

or is this just an example of Thailand's utterly useless news reporting?

[RafPinto]

And suddenly 800 Bitcoins were lost.

The local Ferrari dealership seeing their order books full until 2024

[IAMHERE]

OMG , that stuff is likely to fetch several hundred thousands of baht at 'the auction'. ROFL

[RafPinto]

Give me a house, 50 Million in the bank, a nice car and I retire.

[KannikaP]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

a Mini worth five million,

Must be an original 60s model in pristine condition

 

[ChristianBlessing]

"U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said last week that AlphaBay was the largest dark web marketplace in history."

 

Curious. Jeff Sessions was the US Attorney General from 2017 to 2018.

[zzaa09]

4 hours ago, Ohyesuare said:

Got to enjoy the good life at such a young age for awhile at least. Very hard to believe a "mastermind" would leave his laptop unlocked/unencrypted and logged in as administrator so all his assets can be so easily seized. Seems like his wife and in-laws will be left with nothing too if they are seizing all the properties, money and vehicles.

The obvious is that there's much more to this twisted tale than the typical non sequitur news blip. 

[Gottfrid]

No problem a nice little earner. Soon the whole police force can driver a hummer.

[Caldera]

That's quite convenient. 

[herfiehandbag]

Jolly dangerous these special cells for high profile very wealthy criminal suspects.

 

I suppose that if he had survived to be extradited then "sorting out" his assets would have been much more complicated...

[internationalism]

if he kept low profile, he would be able to retire at age 30. Instead of those luxury items he could invest in btc and nobody would knew, who he is.

Flashy lifestyle brought attention to his business.

He wasn't mafia. More like working nomad

Edited May 10, 2022 by internationalism

[SCOTT FITZGERSLD]

8 hours ago, Aussieroaming said:

These assets have been snatched, tagged and notionally divvied up and will shortly be be laundered into legitimate assets by the persons being gifted a cut of the bounty. Who says that pirates don't exist in modern Thailand.

you are propably not aware that thai law allow the police and policeman to keep

25% of all ill gotten assets they can keep their hands on.

the snitch who helps to discover those assets is also entitiles, legaly, to similar share.

[JeffersLos]

9 hours ago, Moonlover said:

Quote

 If he'd been extradited, would they still have been able to seize his assets?

It would be pretty difficult for any other authority to seize assets such as cars and real estate wouldn't it.

.....

 

Crumbs.

 

Quote

In addition 911 Bitcoins worth 1.24 billion were seized 

 

Did you even read the article?

[Peabody]

How did the 1.6 BILLION originally reported become 725 MILLION?

 

[The Hammer2021]

Murdered?

[Onerak]

8 hours ago, RafPinto said:

Give me a house, 50 Million in the bank, a nice car and I retire.

Can't you buy a house and a nice car with 50 million baht. Why hoping for every thing while living in a foreign land using year-to-year visa? Apology if you have an elite visa. 

Edited May 10, 2022 by Onerak

[Andycoops]

No doubt it will all disappear in a total misunderstanding of the rules as to who gets what.

[jacko45k]

More flash cars for the collectors in the police!