Convicted Killer Wisut Faces New Financial Crime Allegations

Photo courtesy of Thai PBS

Nearly ten years after his release from prison, Wisut Boonkasemsanti, previously convicted of murdering his wife, is back under public scrutiny. This time, he faces accusations of high-stakes financial crimes.

Earlier this month, Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused Wisut, now in his 70s, and two female accomplices of violating securities laws through "front running." This illegal practice involves buying shares before a large client order to profit from expected price changes.

According to the SEC, one woman involved worked for a prominent brokerage firm and allegedly provided Wisut with confidential client insights between 2023 and 2024. Investigators claim Wisut used this information to manipulate the market, reaping unlawful profits and damaging the brokerage's reputation. The second woman reportedly benefited financially from these trades.

The SEC first noticed these questionable transactions last year and has now escalated the case to the Anti-Money Laundering Office and the Economic Crime Suppression Division.

“If convicted,” the SEC noted, “Wisut could return to prison.” Sources suggest there is substantial evidence backing the allegations.

Before his entanglement in one of Thailand’s most notorious murder cases, Wisut was a respected assistant professor and a leading expert in in-vitro fertilisation at Chulalongkorn Hospital.

His wife, Dr Phassaporn, was a gynaecologist at the Royal Thai Railway Hospital. Their marriage fell apart after she discovered his affair with a patient. Friends revealed Phassaporn feared for her life and believed Wisut would be responsible if anything happened to her. She confided in others that he once drugged her and attempted to strangle her.

On 20 February 2001, Wisut arranged to meet Phassaporn at a Japanese restaurant in Bangkok’s Siam Discovery mall under the guise of discussing home renovations. CCTV showed her entering unaided but needing support from Wisut on her way out. Wisut claimed she was intoxicated, despite her ordering a non-alcoholic beverage. She was not seen alive again.

Though her body was never fully recovered, police found 3.3 kilograms of human remains in a septic tank at a building rented by Wisut. Further remains were found elsewhere, later confirmed by DNA to belong to Phassaporn.

Initially dismissed for lack of evidence, the case was pursued by Phassaporn’s father, leading to Wisut’s conviction in 2003. The Criminal Court sentenced him to death, a verdict upheld by the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court.

Through royal clemency, Wisut's sentence was commuted, and he served just over ten years before his parole in 2014.

During his imprisonment, Wisut claimed deep personal transformation. He told interviewers he had found spirituality and regretted his past behaviour, which contributed to his reduced sentence.

After his release, he briefly entered monkhood at Wat Pathum Wanaram, professing a desire for spiritual rebirth. However, he eventually returned to lay life.

Now, with fresh allegations of market manipulation and money laundering, questions arise about whether Wisut's change was genuine or another act in his ongoing saga of reinvention.

As the legal proceedings unfold, many are left wondering if Wisut's past actions have caught up with him once more, or if this is a new chapter in his intriguing and controversial life.

  Adapted by ASEAN Now from Thai PBS 2025-08-14