California Wow Allegedly Siphoned Bt1.6 Billion Overseas

[harrycallahan]

Trading while insolvent and not alerting the market is illegal too. Some of you need to look into the rules governing public companies - for starters the shareholders own it and the executives work for them, so they're not free to do whatever they want with da money.

[smedly]

please do share

it seems to me that everything they did was reported as required by the SE = when a company reports financials and they are running at a loss - it's not rocket science to work out that the costs are more than the revenue - running costs includes salaries and should all be public knowledge in financial reports - shareholders buy into this after doing their research - it's a risk and although you could say shareholders own the company - they have little say in how it's run

Edited June 8, 2013 by smedly

[CrisRMenumate]

How many lifetime memberships to get a luxury 900 million baht house on beach front near Phuket? And have a 100 million baht wedding in India and Thailand ? Just asking

[thelegend]

They put themselves under by their stupid offering of lifetime membership for 10,000 baht. Of course, they knew by then they were going under and were screwing people as much as they could before running off.

If it sounds too good to be true .....................[c'mon you know how it goes .]

[indyuk]

They did nothing differnent to what Thai politicos do

Utter nonsense.

They keep it it black bin bags under their very large bed.

You may be absolutely correct. A few years ago in Pattaya a local business man's home was robbed of 400 million Bahts in gold bars and trinklets equally amazingly he refused the assistance of the Pattaya Police and recovered most of the booty within a week or so with out their help. Edited June 8, 2013 by indyuk

[BikeThailand]

Anybody want to buy my lifetime membership? The card is still in good shape ;~)). I feel I got my money's worth before I finally moved out of Bangkok but was bummed to see them close down. They were definitely scumbags through and through but the equipment was good and lots of hotties to look at while working out ;~))

[how241]

1,600 Million baht.... US$52 Million.

Nice bit of change.

How anyone couldn't foresee this when they were handing out 'lifetime' memberships for a few K baht I don't know.

Well, except for the amount involved.

Isn't it odd the names and addresses of those involved aren't printed in the Thai press.

+1

[joeaverage]

Who are the pooyai Thais in this company?

cannot blame this one on the thais sorry, eric levine is your man

[Thai at Heart]

Who are the pooyai Thais in this company?

cannot blame this one on the thais sorry, eric levine is your man

Not so sure about that. It would have had to 51% Thai.

[britinthai]

Fit for nothing scoundrels

[johnlandy]

They had much more then 1000 members in Thailand affected. Please get your facts right!

So why don't you come out and explain exactly what you are trying to say. And then we could all understand the facts "as you understand them to be"

[edit]

Califonia Wow is simplely a con trick run by a conman. They have done the sting in a few countries around Asia and are still open in a few i think.

They get in to a country, open up, sign up people on life time membership using special offers, move money out- overseas, when start to struggle getting new members stop paying bills creditors, move any money, close.

This guy has made a lot of money out of it to fund his extravegant lifestyle.

If you got in at the start with a lifelime membership and got 3 or 4 years then you probably got your moneies worth

Edited June 8, 2013 by metisdead
Bod font removed.

[caughtintheact]

And just why is the money laundering agency investigating this and reporting it in the media? Hardly an uncommon fact that companies move capital around to suit their needs. Nothing illegal in that. Just goes to show the power of governments these days. Private banking records scrutinized and the findings splashed in the news. Sounds like something that would happen in the US.

According to the article they were reporting losses every year except the first year listed and yet they were able to send money overseas every year? That is either fraud or they were into other businesses that they did not report.

[Potosi]

And just why is the money laundering agency investigating this and reporting it in the media? Hardly an uncommon fact that companies move capital around to suit their needs. Nothing illegal in that. Just goes to show the power of governments these days. Private banking records scrutinized and the findings splashed in the news. Sounds like something that would happen in the US.

[belg]

10k baht , that is about what i pay EACH YEAR

what about your fee ?

[butterisbetter]

They had much more then 1000 members in Thailand affected. Please get your facts right!

As far as I can see, they did get their facts right as the report clearly says, 'last year affected shareholders and more than 1,000 members.'

I don't see any inaccuracy in that!

-mel.

And it would also be true if the reporter wrote that more than 0 members were affected. What the reporter should have done is note how many members California Wow had before it went bankrupt and if that number referred only to the last club that remained open or to all the clubs.

[scorecard]

There was a spread in Thailand Tattler or some other elite Thai rag on the owner and his custom built 50 million house in Phuket. He was a foreigner a I recall. The article states that he used "SWIFT" to send his money abroad. Well, there must be a bank involved because SWIFT is a network of bank members using that network to transfer money. So why isn't the police and the newspaper running down the Thai bank source of Cal Wow's accounts and the bank officers responsible and getting some of the skim?

Interesting point.

- Massive default on loans from Thai banks.

- Banks in Thailand used to transfer massive funds out of Thailand.

Someone sleeping?

[amse]

This happens all the time in the states with fitness companies going bankrupt, leaving members and investors holding a pig in a poke.

[Globeman]

And just why is the money laundering agency investigating this and reporting it in the media? Hardly an uncommon fact that companies move capital around to suit their needs. Nothing illegal in that. Just goes to show the power of governments these days. Private banking records scrutinized and the findings splashed in the news. Sounds like something that would happen in the US.

Are you serious? Ummm... because they cheated a load of people out of money through fraud... That usually entitles investigators to look through the offender's bank details. Bankruptcy proceedings also mean the books get thrown open. Why should they be entitled to privacy in this matter?

[tropo]

Yeah, close the barn doors after the horses has bolted with

our money....good luck to the DSI and anybody else

recovering even one baht back.

It was the best deal I've ever had. 3 years for 10,000 baht.

Most guys who bought the cheap lifetime memberships knew the company was in trouble. It was a gamble which paid off for most.

[tropo]

How many lifetime memberships to get a luxury 900 million baht house on beach front near Phuket? And have a 100 million baht wedding in India and Thailand ? Just asking

100,000 x 10,000 baht lifetime memberships. 66,666 x 15,000 baht memberships.

[tropo]

10k baht , that is about what i pay EACH YEAR

what about your fee ?

100 baht per year.

[SOTIRIOS]

..so will anyone do anything about it.........

..or were payments made all these years...since it went 'undetected' for so long......therefore....forget it...

[rebelplatoon]

Interestingly, whenever I have to make bank transfers for my company I have to show EXACTLY what it's for.... If not, they cannot transfer. Guess it's different for the thieves.

[Hamlet07]

They put themselves under by their stupid offering of lifetime membership for 10,000 baht. Of course, they knew by then they were going under and were screwing people as much as they could before running off.

Yes, Indeed !....and OVER 50 Million Dollars siphoned !!

Edited June 9, 2013 by metisdead
Large font reset to normal, again.

[slapout]

Depending on the following, the AMLO could/can ask for assistance from the country of incorporation, if they are intent on getting a final reckoning, with a chance of at least partial recovery.

Of course if there were Thai hands in the till,, they may opt to be too busy on other rat killings.

[lifeincnx]

The way in which Eric Levine and his Thai partner cronies trolled for new clients and constant up-selling through a pool of ever- turning-over sales "consultants" could be deemed multi-level marketing. A more accurate term would be a Ponzi scheme on a grand scale.

As California WOW Xperience was a publicly traded company on the National Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET:CAWOW), it fell under the SET-approved audit committee whose job is to ensure that good corporate governance was followed. Notably their job was to review the adequacy and effectiveness of internal control systems and internal audit functions. California Wow did its job exceedingly well to bilk customers and shareholders; the Thai audit committee and it's exchange-approved directors failed miserably. Follow that money trail as well.

Now, back to my situps at home.

[blackman]

Most probably this is common practice for many Thai business enterprises. Get your money out of the country boys and build up a nice retirement fund or 'something for a rainy day' just in case it all goes arse upwards.

they simply followed the great leaders business model

[Thai at Heart]

And just why is the money laundering agency investigating this and reporting it in the media? Hardly an uncommon fact that companies move capital around to suit their needs. Nothing illegal in that. Just goes to show the power of governments these days. Private banking records scrutinized and the findings splashed in the news. Sounds like something that would happen in the US.

According to the article they were reporting losses every year except the first year listed and yet they were able to send money overseas every year? That is either fraud or they were into other businesses that they did not report.

As though a company doesn't spend anything overseas. Ever heard of a franchise fee? Maybe they were buying tons of equipment? The laws in Thailand are bad enough, but making there isn't anything to stop buying things overseas.

When this comes out, it will probably turn out to be a franchise fee. What does Starbucks do in Europe? But extremely expensive coffee from itself in Switzerland and charge every shop a whopping franchise fee.

Thus, no profit for taxation.

[HerbalEd]

They put themselves under by their stupid offering of lifetime membership for 10,000 baht. Of course, they knew by then they were going under and were screwing people as much as they could before running off.

I don't think you get it. They did not at all "go under" ... they faked going under and shipped the profits out of the country while screwing their customers and shareholders.