American Cheated By Late Thai Wife Of 20 Million Baht Wants His Assets Back

[webfact]

American cheated by late wife wants his daughter, assets back

BANGKOK: -- An American businessman who says he was cheated of 20 million baht by his late wife and her family has sought assistance from the Rights and Liberties Protection Department of the Justice Ministry, seeking custody of their daughter and return of the money.

Roger Rae Harpel, 63, told the department’s director-general Pol Col Narat Savettanan that his late wife Nattiyanee Suwanrat embezzled more than 40 million baht of his assets and gave them to her mother, Sumalee Suwanrat, and her cousins.

Mr Harpel said he has been settled in Thailand since 1989. He married a Thai woman and they were later divorced. Later, he married Nattiyanee in a village ceremony without having the marriage registered. They have a girl, now aged 11.

In 2005, he established a real estate company, Earth 666 Ltd, and an export company, KGE. He appointed Nattiyanee a director and she operated the company on his behalf.

In 2007, Mr Harpel learned that Nattiyanee had embezzled 11 million baht of the company’s assets and channelled them to her cousins.

She was arrested and later released on bail to fight the case. During the negotiations, Nattiyanee took their daughter away, using her as leverage to have him drop the charges.

However, during the negotiations Nattiyanee died in an accident.

Her mother, Ms Sumalee, sought the right to be the girl’s legal guardian. Mr Harpel and Ms Sumalee were appointed to settle Nattiyanee’s estate together. They reached a compromise, also agreeing that if one side sells their share of the assets, the other side must be informed.

Mr Harpel said some of the assets have been sold, and he had not received any of his stake back. As a result he is financially destitute and his house faces foreclosure by a court order.

He claimed to have a legal document stating he is the father of his daughter, and wants a court order confirming his paternity. He also asked the department to appoint a lawyer to help him fight the case to get back his assets, and provide an interpreter to help him understand the case details.

“Before I came here, I had 25 million baht for investment in Thailand. With no knowledge of the Thai language, I was at a disadvantage," said Mr Harpel, who is staying at Wat Charoen Dhammaram in Soi Dao district of Chanthaburi province.

"Now I don’t think about it a lot, but would like to get my assets back.”

A senior monk at Wat Charoen Dhammaram said he met Mr Harpel wandering hopelessly at Mae Pim beach in Rayong province. Mr Harpel had stayed at the temple for over three months and he helped teach English to the monks.

Pol Col Narat said the department will help by providing a lawyer and be responsible for the court fees and DNA test fee in order to ensure justice in this case.


-- Phuket News 2013-04-30

[CrisRMenumate]

Welcome to the club dude, my ex took much more than that and my 3 kids, tried to have me killed 3 times, had me arrested on false charges twice.... this is thailand, a Thai lie is much whiter than any farang truth..

[lee b]

good luck in getting your cash back ! More chance of winning the lottery

[ross163103]

Maybe he'lll find solace studying Buddhism and forget about this awful path his life took in the "land of smiles".

[doctorproc156]

Wow, poor guy. Hope justice is served.

[soi41]

What a bloody fool! Some people deserve, what they get! First cheated by the wife and then leave it to MIL to sell the remaining assets. And share with him.

[chiang mai]

“Before I came here, I had 25 million baht for investment in Thailand.With no knowledge of the Thai language, I was at a disadvantage," said Mr Harpel",

Silly man, not much more can be said except I hope he finds a way out.

[Andre0720]

Who is next???

[Pimay1]

What a bloody fool! Some people deserve, what they get! First cheated by the wife and then leave it to MIL to sell the remaining assets. And share with him.

Stupid is as stupid does.

[chainarong]

The Thai honey pot scam strikes again.

[Ianatlarge]

A measure of sympathy. The guy was foolish in investing in Thailand with clearly no knowledge of what he was getting into, then add 'love' to the mix! But who of us goes through life without making mistakes? Glad to see that he is at least getting a hearing, most likely months of legal bs, and no win, but at least he is generating a few waves.

[Pimay1]

Well he should consider himself lucky. His village ceremony wife took the dive instead of him. That's a switch.

[Considered Opinion]

In all honesty you can only say LOL.

How many of us have heard this before? How many of us know we will see and hear it again.

To the poster who said he hopes justice is served.... Whose justice?

[EyesWideOpen]

Well, at least he is lucky he did not have to go through the drug and kidnap style of monetary extraction.... :-) Given the widespread usage of the internet, and the fact these types of stories are well known, I am always somewhat surprised to see them occur on a regular basis here....

A couple of years ago a good friend of mine put about 1 million dollars into a resort in the southern islands. In his wife's name of course as per Thai law. When things turned bad with his wife, he wanted to recover a part of his money back, so he sent down a lawyer to see her.When his lawyer came back, he was very scared and told my friend to forget about ever seeing a dollar back. I gave him the same advice if he wanted to keep living. He walked away, and is still alive and well..

Conclusion : Be fully prepared to lose any assets you put in the name of your wife. If you know that going in, no problem. If you take your life's savings and turn it over to your Thai wife, things will generally not go well for you in the future..

Download the torrent movie " My Thai Bride"... :-)

There is a slight variation on this concept involving the family of the wife. Meaning perhaps your Thai wife loves you more than anything in the world, and all the assets are in her name.

She happens to have an untimely death. Next thing you know there is a pickup truck outside the house full of her relatives demanding you get out of " their" house. Same net effect to the poor farang....

Edited April 30, 2013 by EyesWideOpen

[hellodolly]

Welcome to the club dude, my ex took much more than that and my 3 kids, tried to have me killed 3 times, had me arrested on false charges twice.... this is thailand, a Thai lie is much whiter than any farang truth..

You must be a real lovable kind of guy

[Cardiff1963]

Well, at least he is lucky he did not have to go through the drug and kidnap style of monetary extraction.... :-) Given the widespread usage of the internet, and the fact these types of stories are well known, I am always somewhat surprised to see them occur on a regular basis here....

A couple of years ago a good friend of mine put about 1 million dollars into a resort in the southern islands. In his wife's name of course as per Thai law. When things turned bad with his wife, he wanted to recover a part of his money back, so he sent down a lawyer to see her.When his lawyer came back, he was very scared and told my friend to forget about ever seeing a dollar back. I gave him the same advice if he wanted to keep living. He walked away, and is still alive and well..

Conclusion : Be fully prepared to lose any assets you put in the name of your wife. If you know that going in, no problem. If you take your life's savings and turn it over to your Thai wife, things will generally not go well for you in the future..

There is a slight variation on this concept involving the family of the wife. Meaning perhaps your Thai wife loves you more than anything in the world, and all the assets are in her name.

She happens to have an untimely death. Next thing you know there is a pickup truck full of her relatives demanding you get out of " their" house. Same net effect to the poor farang....

drugging and kidnap on a regular basis, sorry but i don't see it regularly. where do you get these stories

[PepeLePew]

Odd that there have been no comments regarding his ex wife's 'accident' yet? I'm sure there would have been plenty had the roles been reversed.

[EyesWideOpen]

Well, at least he is lucky he did not have to go through the drug and kidnap style of monetary extraction.... :-) Given the widespread usage of the internet, and the fact these types of stories are well known, I am always somewhat surprised to see them occur on a regular basis here....

A couple of years ago a good friend of mine put about 1 million dollars into a resort in the southern islands. In his wife's name of course as per Thai law. When things turned bad with his wife, he wanted to recover a part of his money back, so he sent down a lawyer to see her.When his lawyer came back, he was very scared and told my friend to forget about ever seeing a dollar back. I gave him the same advice if he wanted to keep living. He walked away, and is still alive and well..

Conclusion : Be fully prepared to lose any assets you put in the name of your wife. If you know that going in, no problem. If you take your life's savings and turn it over to your Thai wife, things will generally not go well for you in the future..

There is a slight variation on this concept involving the family of the wife. Meaning perhaps your Thai wife loves you more than anything in the world, and all the assets are in her name.

She happens to have an untimely death. Next thing you know there is a pickup truck full of her relatives demanding you get out of " their" house. Same net effect to the poor farang....

drugging and kidnap on a regular basis, sorry but i don't see it regularly. where do you get these stories

Here... Why, are you scared ???

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/635667-businessman-with-washington-ties-feared-kidnapped-in-thailand/

[theblether]

Odd that there have been no comments regarding his ex wife's 'accident' yet? I'm sure there would have been plenty had the roles been reversed.

Can't help but think that a type of justice has been served already.

Karma even.

[kurnell]

As much as I trust my wife, I would never put her in charge of my money.

[Suffinator]

15 million + House + Car - join the club.

Instructions for anyone marrying a thai:

1. Buy can of tar

2. Buy tar brush

3. Apply tar liberally

4. Keep the remainder of the tar for her family

Edited April 30, 2013 by Suffinator

[gtm2k]

somehow the man sounds completely without any friends....

[hmj]

EyesWideOpen post #14

"She happens to have an untimely death. Next thing you know there is a pickup truck
full of her relatives demanding you get out of " their" house. Same net effect
to the poor farang...."

Happened to me.

[bangkokheat]

i find it amusing that thailand will seek justice for tourists, yet overlook justice for expats getting ripped off by greedy needy thais, a justice system needs to be set in place to help expats

[sunshine51]

A long time ago...when I worked in Saudi...I used to give my spending money to a certain lady

I knew way back then. We had no problems with who spent what or where the next Baht

came from. When I'd leave LOS for Land of Sand & Dust we'd happily spend the last bit

on a huge party with friends and whatever was left over I'd happily hand to that certain lady.

When I set up a business in LOS back in 1985 my partner was another lass who became

quite upset that I never let her have control of the company $$$...or at least 50% control.

When she was informed the money belonged to "the company" she became even more

angry...then she was removed from the company directors list by unanimous vote. Her

anger was manifested in many ways...death threats being the least worry.

I feel sorry for this man...but it is his own fault. Trusting a lass he really has no clue about

left him wide open to an age old scam in this part of the world. He should have known

better...then again..."love" or the thought of it, blinds even the most sensible person.

I hope he receives some restitution...even if it's just from experience.

[kimincm]

Once again,if somebody is struggling,put the boot in.Kind regards your expat buddies.

[pomchop]

How many times have I listened to farangs talk about what a bunch of stupid/dumb/uneducated/numbskulls thai girls are and how the farangs are so smart, educated, business savy superior?

And then how many times do I quietly chuckle when I hear how a 23 y.o. bar girl with a 3rd grade education who dances around a metal pole ends up taking these brilliant educated business savy farangs for big bucks?

So who is the dumb one?

[LUSHGOAT]

Same old story I blame Thai law they have it set up to screw Farangs hell you cant even buy a car or motorbike without going through a big load of RED TAPE. No wonder the Thai Baht is so strong the banks there are full of money which some Farang has been conned out of and if that's not bad enough some damn ugly Farangs are in cahoots with Thai's to screw us too. But as you see this stupid greedy lady has screwed her daughter do you think all the family she has given the money to will give it to her daughter when she needs it. My how greedy can you get 20 million. I hope for his daughters sake that's indeed if it is his daughter he can get something back to secure her future.

[ppmacready]

An old fool and his money are easily parted.

[bangkokheat]

i think its difficult enough to find justice in the western world, let alone thailand, the only justice you will get is the justice you make.

There was a great movie i seen many years ago, it was about a group of underworld hi profile figures who served justice outside the legal system, when the legal system failed this group stepped in, does anyone recall this movie?