California Wow Allegedly Siphoned Bt1.6 Billion Overseas

[Arkady]

Afrer a little more investigation it looks as if we talking about straight fraud here, if AMLO is to be believed. AMLO is investigating 10 people to do with the overseas transfers and says the largest transfer of B 495 million took place in 2010. I have dug up the 2010 annual report (attached) and there is nothing in the accounts suggestive of an overseas payment of that size or anything close. Nothing is disclosed about any royalty or licence fees paid abroad, just the rights to use the California Wow Experience trademark generously provided free of charge by Levine. It was a relatively small business and sales for the year were only B 1 billion . Thus, if AMLO's information is correct, siphoning off an amount equivalent to nearly half the year's sales revenue would have involved a fraud of a monumental nature with all levels of financial management, the audit committee and the company's auditors PWC complicit in the fraud. In that year Major was still a larger shareholder than Levine and his group, benefiting hugely from rental income paid by CAWOW and Major's Vichai was an non-executive director.

Realistically I would expect that the company overstated the expenses of the business systematically and perhaps also understated the sales. Therefore the fraud is not apparent in the accounts which must be pure fiction, happily audited by PWC year after year with only mild qualifications from the bone headed auditor. Probably the amount of B 495 remitted in 2010 was accumulated in 2009 and perhaps other prior years as well as 2010, given its large size relative to the business, stashed away in non-company accounts and remitted in 2010 when they knew the writing was on the wall.

It will be interesting to see how far AMLO pushes this. I think Major would like it to disappear. Even if they were not involved in fraud they look bad being the major shareholder and on the board at the time and benefiting substantially from the business through related party transactions. Therefore, I would guess that it will indeed disappear.

[mrtoad]

I am surprised that Abjasit has not been blamed, after all most things are his fault.

[ricklev]

Afrer a little more investigation it looks as if we talking about straight fraud here, if AMLO is to be believed. AMLO is investigating 10 people to do with the overseas transfers and says the largest transfer of B 495 million took place in 2010. I have dug up the 2010 annual report (attached) and there is nothing in the accounts suggestive of an overseas payment of that size or anything close. Nothing is disclosed about any royalty or licence fees paid abroad, just the rights to use the California Wow Experience trademark generously provided free of charge by Levine. It was a relatively small business and sales for the year were only B 1 billion . Thus, if AMLO's information is correct, siphoning off an amount equivalent to nearly half the year's sales revenue would have involved a fraud of a monumental nature with all levels of financial management, the audit committee and the company's auditors PWC complicit in the fraud. In that year Major was still a larger shareholder than Levine and his group, benefiting hugely from rental income paid by CAWOW and Major's Vichai was an non-executive director.

Realistically I would expect that the company overstated the expenses of the business systematically and perhaps also understated the sales. Therefore the fraud is not apparent in the accounts which must be pure fiction, happily audited by PWC year after year with only mild qualifications from the bone headed auditor. Probably the amount of B 495 remitted in 2010 was accumulated in 2009 and perhaps other prior years as well as 2010, given its large size relative to the business, stashed away in non-company accounts and remitted in 2010 when they knew the writing was on the wall.

It will be interesting to see how far AMLO pushes this. I think Major would like it to disappear. Even if they were not involved in fraud they look bad being the major shareholder and on the board at the time and benefiting substantially from the business through related party transactions. Therefore, I would guess that it will indeed disappear.

Sounds like you have it figured out. However, I see no reason to believe anything that I read about what AMLO knows or doesn't know and I wonder why you do?

Circles within circles and lunacy abounds.

[sydneyjed]

Without flaunting TV guidelines and actually putting this web site up on here..forum members(who wish)should go to h...//w.....scottmurray.info/interesting-folks/172-e..c-lev.ne....

There really is a lot of info on here that many of us will find more than interesting/amusing and sheds a lot more light on Mr Levine...more than interesting!!!"

For example he really did fancy himself as a "budding philanthrophist"..Example from the above web link(don't laugh)"Eric's next big goal is to be the CEO of a large existing charity.He admires people like Bob Geldoff and Bono,and he wants to convince the younger generation that it's cool to 'give'...!"..

[Thai at Heart]

Without flaunting TV guidelines and actually putting this web site up on here..forum members(who wish)should go to h...//w.....scottmurray.info/interesting-folks/172-e..c-lev.ne....

There really is a lot of info on here that many of us will find more than interesting/amusing and sheds a lot more light on Mr Levine...more than interesting!!!"

For example he really did fancy himself as a "budding philanthrophist"..Example from the above web link(don't laugh)"Eric's next big goal is to be the CEO of a large existing charity.He admires people like Bob Geldoff and Bono,and he wants to convince the younger generation that it's cool to 'give'...!"..

Loads of stuff about Hong Kong and Singapore about him out there.

[Thereisnoif]

Afrer a little more investigation it looks as if we talking about straight fraud here, if AMLO is to be believed. AMLO is investigating 10 people to do with the overseas transfers and says the largest transfer of B 495 million took place in 2010. I have dug up the 2010 annual report (attached) and there is nothing in the accounts suggestive of an overseas payment of that size or anything close. Nothing is disclosed about any royalty or licence fees paid abroad, just the rights to use the California Wow Experience trademark generously provided free of charge by Levine. It was a relatively small business and sales for the year were only B 1 billion . Thus, if AMLO's information is correct, siphoning off an amount equivalent to nearly half the year's sales revenue would have involved a fraud of a monumental nature with all levels of financial management, the audit committee and the company's auditors PWC complicit in the fraud. In that year Major was still a larger shareholder than Levine and his group, benefiting hugely from rental income paid by CAWOW and Major's Vichai was an non-executive director.

Realistically I would expect that the company overstated the expenses of the business systematically and perhaps also understated the sales. Therefore the fraud is not apparent in the accounts which must be pure fiction, happily audited by PWC year after year with only mild qualifications from the bone headed auditor. Probably the amount of B 495 remitted in 2010 was accumulated in 2009 and perhaps other prior years as well as 2010, given its large size relative to the business, stashed away in non-company accounts and remitted in 2010 when they knew the writing was on the wall.

It will be interesting to see how far AMLO pushes this. I think Major would like it to disappear. Even if they were not involved in fraud they look bad being the major shareholder and on the board at the time and benefiting substantially from the business through related party transactions. Therefore, I would guess that it will indeed disappear.

Afrer a little more investigation it looks as if we talking about straight fraud here, if AMLO is to be believed. AMLO is investigating 10 people to do with the overseas transfers and says the largest transfer of B 495 million took place in 2010. I have dug up the 2010 annual report (attached) and there is nothing in the accounts suggestive of an overseas payment of that size or anything close. Nothing is disclosed about any royalty or licence fees paid abroad, just the rights to use the California Wow Experience trademark generously provided free of charge by Levine. It was a relatively small business and sales for the year were only B 1 billion . Thus, if AMLO's information is correct, siphoning off an amount equivalent to nearly half the year's sales revenue would have involved a fraud of a monumental nature with all levels of financial management, the audit committee and the company's auditors PWC complicit in the fraud. In that year Major was still a larger shareholder than Levine and his group, benefiting hugely from rental income paid by CAWOW and Major's Vichai was an non-executive director.

Realistically I would expect that the company overstated the expenses of the business systematically and perhaps also understated the sales. Therefore the fraud is not apparent in the accounts which must be pure fiction, happily audited by PWC year after year with only mild qualifications from the bone headed auditor. Probably the amount of B 495 remitted in 2010 was accumulated in 2009 and perhaps other prior years as well as 2010, given its large size relative to the business, stashed away in non-company accounts and remitted in 2010 when they knew the writing was on the wall.

It will be interesting to see how far AMLO pushes this. I think Major would like it to disappear. Even if they were not involved in fraud they look bad being the major shareholder and on the board at the time and benefiting substantially from the business through related party transactions. Therefore, I would guess that it will indeed disappear.

All auditors can be bought. WorldCom,Enron and so many examples of it, even more son in the motherload of corruption .

[Thai at Heart]

Afrer a little more investigation it looks as if we talking about straight fraud here, if AMLO is to be believed. AMLO is investigating 10 people to do with the overseas transfers and says the largest transfer of B 495 million took place in 2010. I have dug up the 2010 annual report (attached) and there is nothing in the accounts suggestive of an overseas payment of that size or anything close. Nothing is disclosed about any royalty or licence fees paid abroad, just the rights to use the California Wow Experience trademark generously provided free of charge by Levine. It was a relatively small business and sales for the year were only B 1 billion . Thus, if AMLO's information is correct, siphoning off an amount equivalent to nearly half the year's sales revenue would have involved a fraud of a monumental nature with all levels of financial management, the audit committee and the company's auditors PWC complicit in the fraud. In that year Major was still a larger shareholder than Levine and his group, benefiting hugely from rental income paid by CAWOW and Major's Vichai was an non-executive director.

Realistically I would expect that the company overstated the expenses of the business systematically and perhaps also understated the sales. Therefore the fraud is not apparent in the accounts which must be pure fiction, happily audited by PWC year after year with only mild qualifications from the bone headed auditor. Probably the amount of B 495 remitted in 2010 was accumulated in 2009 and perhaps other prior years as well as 2010, given its large size relative to the business, stashed away in non-company accounts and remitted in 2010 when they knew the writing was on the wall.

It will be interesting to see how far AMLO pushes this. I think Major would like it to disappear. Even if they were not involved in fraud they look bad being the major shareholder and on the board at the time and benefiting substantially from the business through related party transactions. Therefore, I would guess that it will indeed disappear.

Afrer a little more investigation it looks as if we talking about straight fraud here, if AMLO is to be believed. AMLO is investigating 10 people to do with the overseas transfers and says the largest transfer of B 495 million took place in 2010. I have dug up the 2010 annual report (attached) and there is nothing in the accounts suggestive of an overseas payment of that size or anything close. Nothing is disclosed about any royalty or licence fees paid abroad, just the rights to use the California Wow Experience trademark generously provided free of charge by Levine. It was a relatively small business and sales for the year were only B 1 billion . Thus, if AMLO's information is correct, siphoning off an amount equivalent to nearly half the year's sales revenue would have involved a fraud of a monumental nature with all levels of financial management, the audit committee and the company's auditors PWC complicit in the fraud. In that year Major was still a larger shareholder than Levine and his group, benefiting hugely from rental income paid by CAWOW and Major's Vichai was an non-executive director.

Realistically I would expect that the company overstated the expenses of the business systematically and perhaps also understated the sales. Therefore the fraud is not apparent in the accounts which must be pure fiction, happily audited by PWC year after year with only mild qualifications from the bone headed auditor. Probably the amount of B 495 remitted in 2010 was accumulated in 2009 and perhaps other prior years as well as 2010, given its large size relative to the business, stashed away in non-company accounts and remitted in 2010 when they knew the writing was on the wall.

It will be interesting to see how far AMLO pushes this. I think Major would like it to disappear. Even if they were not involved in fraud they look bad being the major shareholder and on the board at the time and benefiting substantially from the business through related party transactions. Therefore, I would guess that it will indeed disappear.

All auditors can be bought. WorldCom,Enron and so many examples of it, even more son in the motherload of corruption .

You think California wow of bangkok Thailand can but delloite?

[metisdead]

A post in violation of fair use policy as well as this forum rule has been removed as well as the reply:

31) Bangkok Post do not allow quotes from their news articles or other material to appear on Thaivisa.com. Neither do they allow links to their publications. Posts from members containing quotes from or links to Bangkok Post publications will be deleted from the forum. Please note that this is a decision by the Bangkok Post, not by Thaivisa.com and any complaints or other issues concerning this rule should be directed to them. Quotes from and links to Phuketwan are also not allowed and will also be removed. In special cases forum Administrators or the news team may use these sources.

[Johpa]

Afrer a little more investigation it looks as if we talking about straight fraud here, if AMLO is to be believed. AMLO is investigating 10 people to do with the overseas transfers and says the largest transfer of B 495 million took place in 2010. I have dug up the 2010 annual report (attached) and there is nothing in the accounts suggestive of an overseas payment of that size or anything close. Nothing is disclosed about any royalty or licence fees paid abroad, just the rights to use the California Wow Experience trademark generously provided free of charge by Levine. It was a relatively small business and sales for the year were only B 1 billion . Thus, if AMLO's information is correct, siphoning off an amount equivalent to nearly half the year's sales revenue would have involved a fraud of a monumental nature with all levels of financial management, the audit committee and the company's auditors PWC complicit in the fraud. In that year Major was still a larger shareholder than Levine and his group, benefiting hugely from rental income paid by CAWOW and Major's Vichai was an non-executive director.

Realistically I would expect that the company overstated the expenses of the business systematically and perhaps also understated the sales. Therefore the fraud is not apparent in the accounts which must be pure fiction, happily audited by PWC year after year with only mild qualifications from the bone headed auditor. Probably the amount of B 495 remitted in 2010 was accumulated in 2009 and perhaps other prior years as well as 2010, given its large size relative to the business, stashed away in non-company accounts and remitted in 2010 when they knew the writing was on the wall.

It will be interesting to see how far AMLO pushes this. I think Major would like it to disappear. Even if they were not involved in fraud they look bad being the major shareholder and on the board at the time and benefiting substantially from the business through related party transactions. Therefore, I would guess that it will indeed disappear.

Afrer a little more investigation it looks as if we talking about straight fraud here, if AMLO is to be believed. AMLO is investigating 10 people to do with the overseas transfers and says the largest transfer of B 495 million took place in 2010. I have dug up the 2010 annual report (attached) and there is nothing in the accounts suggestive of an overseas payment of that size or anything close. Nothing is disclosed about any royalty or licence fees paid abroad, just the rights to use the California Wow Experience trademark generously provided free of charge by Levine. It was a relatively small business and sales for the year were only B 1 billion . Thus, if AMLO's information is correct, siphoning off an amount equivalent to nearly half the year's sales revenue would have involved a fraud of a monumental nature with all levels of financial management, the audit committee and the company's auditors PWC complicit in the fraud. In that year Major was still a larger shareholder than Levine and his group, benefiting hugely from rental income paid by CAWOW and Major's Vichai was an non-executive director.

Realistically I would expect that the company overstated the expenses of the business systematically and perhaps also understated the sales. Therefore the fraud is not apparent in the accounts which must be pure fiction, happily audited by PWC year after year with only mild qualifications from the bone headed auditor. Probably the amount of B 495 remitted in 2010 was accumulated in 2009 and perhaps other prior years as well as 2010, given its large size relative to the business, stashed away in non-company accounts and remitted in 2010 when they knew the writing was on the wall.

It will be interesting to see how far AMLO pushes this. I think Major would like it to disappear. Even if they were not involved in fraud they look bad being the major shareholder and on the board at the time and benefiting substantially from the business through related party transactions. Therefore, I would guess that it will indeed disappear.

All auditors can be bought. WorldCom,Enron and so many examples of it, even more son in the motherload of corruption .

You speak as if "buying off" an auditor is different from hiring an auditor. Fact is you hire an auditor to present the information that you provide into a palatable form relative to whatever government authority you may need to present that same financial data. You do not hire an auditor to ask any questions beyond the need to present and defend the data. But in Thailand, everyone is sending profits offshore, from small business owners who set up their kids with a restaurant in Los Angeles, to the CP group which reinvests most of its profits back to the homeland in the PRC, to Thaksin whose offshore investments are well known, to the sale of 40 tonnes of gold back in 2010 when there was a credible threat to the stability of the country during the troubles. There is no reason that Thailand should not be as developed as South Korea, relative to such things as infrastructure and education, apart from it being treated as a colony with the relentless extraction of capital, that is profits that could be reinvested.

[Thereisnoif]

You think California wow of bangkok Thailand can but delloite?

Of course all they had to do was to bribe the local honcho Deloitte guy who was going to put his signature down on their yearly audited report,and that is precisely what they did.

[Thereisnoif]

Afrer a little more investigation it looks as if we talking about straight fraud here, if AMLO is to be believed. AMLO is investigating 10 people to do with the overseas transfers and says the largest transfer of B 495 million took place in 2010. I have dug up the 2010 annual report (attached) and there is nothing in the accounts suggestive of an overseas payment of that size or anything close. Nothing is disclosed about any royalty or licence fees paid abroad, just the rights to use the California Wow Experience trademark generously provided free of charge by Levine. It was a relatively small business and sales for the year were only B 1 billion . Thus, if AMLO's information is correct, siphoning off an amount equivalent to nearly half the year's sales revenue would have involved a fraud of a monumental nature with all levels of financial management, the audit committee and the company's auditors PWC complicit in the fraud. In that year Major was still a larger shareholder than Levine and his group, benefiting hugely from rental income paid by CAWOW and Major's Vichai was an non-executive director.

Realistically I would expect that the company overstated the expenses of the business systematically and perhaps also understated the sales. Therefore the fraud is not apparent in the accounts which must be pure fiction, happily audited by PWC year after year with only mild qualifications from the bone headed auditor. Probably the amount of B 495 remitted in 2010 was accumulated in 2009 and perhaps other prior years as well as 2010, given its large size relative to the business, stashed away in non-company accounts and remitted in 2010 when they knew the writing was on the wall.

It will be interesting to see how far AMLO pushes this. I think Major would like it to disappear. Even if they were not involved in fraud they look bad being the major shareholder and on the board at the time and benefiting substantially from the business through related party transactions. Therefore, I would guess that it will indeed disappear.

Afrer a little more investigation it looks as if we talking about straight fraud here, if AMLO is to be believed. AMLO is investigating 10 people to do with the overseas transfers and says the largest transfer of B 495 million took place in 2010. I have dug up the 2010 annual report (attached) and there is nothing in the accounts suggestive of an overseas payment of that size or anything close. Nothing is disclosed about any royalty or licence fees paid abroad, just the rights to use the California Wow Experience trademark generously provided free of charge by Levine. It was a relatively small business and sales for the year were only B 1 billion . Thus, if AMLO's information is correct, siphoning off an amount equivalent to nearly half the year's sales revenue would have involved a fraud of a monumental nature with all levels of financial management, the audit committee and the company's auditors PWC complicit in the fraud. In that year Major was still a larger shareholder than Levine and his group, benefiting hugely from rental income paid by CAWOW and Major's Vichai was an non-executive director.

Realistically I would expect that the company overstated the expenses of the business systematically and perhaps also understated the sales. Therefore the fraud is not apparent in the accounts which must be pure fiction, happily audited by PWC year after year with only mild qualifications from the bone headed auditor. Probably the amount of B 495 remitted in 2010 was accumulated in 2009 and perhaps other prior years as well as 2010, given its large size relative to the business, stashed away in non-company accounts and remitted in 2010 when they knew the writing was on the wall.

It will be interesting to see how far AMLO pushes this. I think Major would like it to disappear. Even if they were not involved in fraud they look bad being the major shareholder and on the board at the time and benefiting substantially from the business through related party transactions. Therefore, I would guess that it will indeed disappear.

All auditors can be bought. WorldCom,Enron and so many examples of it, even more son in the motherload of corruption .

You speak as if "buying off" an auditor is different from hiring an auditor. Fact is you hire an auditor to present the information that you provide into a palatable form relative to whatever government authority you may need to present that same financial data. You do not hire an auditor to ask any questions beyond the need to present and defend the data. But in Thailand, everyone is sending profits offshore, from small business owners who set up their kids with a restaurant in Los Angeles, to the CP group which reinvests most of its profits back to the homeland in the PRC, to Thaksin whose offshore investments are well known, to the sale of 40 tonnes of gold back in 2010 when there was a credible threat to the stability of the country during the troubles. There is no reason that Thailand should not be as developed as South Korea, relative to such things as infrastructure and education, apart from it being treated as a colony with the relentless extraction of capital, that is profits that could be reinvested.

Why are you bringing Thaksin back into this debate ?

[yoshiwara]

In my opinion CA WOW failed due to it being a very very badly run company and the activities that went on behind closed doors [money leaving the country etc].

As for those who think it was the "Lifetime Memberships", I totally disagree. The offer was only to good to be true for those who actually were committed and motivated to use it. I personally know 10 people who had a life time membership, and of those 10, guess how many used it at all let alone regularly? One, and that was about 5 times a month on average.

Statistically only a very small percentage of people who sign up for a fitness membership actually use it more than 3 times a week a given period of time, and eventually stop to go period.

I think the offer was a great move in the business sense, unfortunately they had bad people in charge and did nothing to expand & improve the business.

You are mistaken. The great deal for members was a very attractive come on, the sole purpose of which was to get new members. While new members were being signed up the lifetime members could enjoy their good luck of apparent lifetime membership for free after the initial signup apart from peppercorn annual renewal. Existing members were totally reliant on new members coming in the door. An absolutely pure play ponzi scheme from the start and cash siphoned off while the going was good a part of the plan. The fact that members of gym clubs sign up and then don't attend a helpful part of the strategy, but attending or not attending dead meat all the same.

I think you are mistaken, I think you are only think in the "ponzi scheme" sense here only because the business went under and is now after the fact, but then again you would have concluded this the moment "lifetime membership" was offer right. All experts after the fact.

Not so. I worked it out before WoW went under. When considering which gym to join CW was one of those I checked out. Only afterwards when I compared notes with a friend who was an existing lifetime member and paid silly money to continue his membership. Short term 'offer you can't refuse' with a business model that is a scam. The only thing missing was the fact that the money was being siphoned off. So you are mistaken yet again. Have another go.

[Thai at Heart]

You think California wow of bangkok Thailand can but delloite?

Of course all they had to do was to bribe the local honcho Deloitte guy who was going to put his signature down on their yearly audited report,and that is precisely what they did.

Are you nuts? You do realise that delloites is a bit more than somchais accountants, and this is an SET firm.

No one, and I mean no one within the company, or board noticed this 1.6bn being removed from the company? Either he did it legally or the entire organisation conspired to be in on it.

[AnotherOneAmerican]

Founder is a Canadian - Eric Levine. He appeared in most high society magazines being featured with his ex-super model Thai wife. Here's a feature on his 50m baht house. http://www.designsigh.com/2009/09/eric-levine-home/

WOW! But also somebody posted a couple of days ago that the house has been sold . So possibly Eric Levine was screwed by his Thai partners. Surprise? Not really!

Also the math does not make sense to me. The article mentions more than 1000 members who paid 10.000 Baht. This amounts to 10 million Baht.

Bangkok bank lost at least 72M, I think they had some outstanding bank loans.

[Thereisnoif]

You think California wow of bangkok Thailand can but delloite?

Of course all they had to do was to bribe the local honcho Deloitte guy who was going to put his signature down on their yearly audited report,and that is precisely what they did.

Are you nuts? You do realise that delloites is a bit more than somchais accountants, and this is an SET firm.

No one, and I mean no one within the company, or board noticed this 1.6bn being removed from the company? Either he did it legally or the entire organisation conspired to be in on it.

I like sarcasm.Make my day .

[Thai at Heart]

You think California wow of bangkok Thailand can but delloite?

Of course all they had to do was to bribe the local honcho Deloitte guy who was going to put his signature down on their yearly audited report,and that is precisely what they did.

Are you nuts? You do realise that delloites is a bit more than somchais accountants, and this is an SET firm.

No one, and I mean no one within the company, or board noticed this 1.6bn being removed from the company? Either he did it legally or the entire organisation conspired to be in on it.

I like sarcasm.Make my day .

You reckon a couple of falangs emptied 1.6bn from a Thai company and the Thai management didn't know about it?

Oh yes. No one knew. Not one Thai financial controller in the country k knew to tell the Thai partner? Not very good for ones life span that. People shoot each other for 160k in Thailand.

[Thereisnoif]

You reckon a couple of falangs emptied 1.6bn from a Thai company and the Thai management didn't know about it?

Oh yes. No one knew. Not one Thai financial controller in the country k knew to tell the Thai partner? Not very good for ones life span that. People shoot each other for 160k in Thailand.

Yep, no one knew just like no one in the customs and revenue department never ever knew that thousands of posh cars have been delivered to their unlawful owners, with the import duties and excise taxes never levied on the sale of these cars. Now what you gonna say ?

[Thai at Heart]

You reckon a couple of falangs emptied 1.6bn from a Thai company and the Thai management didn't know about it?

Oh yes. No one knew. Not one Thai financial controller in the country k knew to tell the Thai partner? Not very good for ones life span that. People shoot each other for 160k in Thailand.

Yep, no one knew just like no one in the customs and revenue department never ever knew that thousands of posh cars have been delivered to their unlawful owners, with the import duties and excise taxes never levied on the sale of these cars. Now what you gonna say ?

So you agree with me, they all knew and covered it up from the auditor? Or you reckon, an auditor from delloite chucked his career away for this?

[Johpa]

You speak as if "buying off" an auditor is different from hiring an auditor. Fact is you hire an auditor to present the information that you provide into a palatable form relative to whatever government authority you may need to present that same financial data. You do not hire an auditor to ask any questions beyond the need to present and defend the data. But in Thailand, everyone is sending profits offshore, from small business owners who set up their kids with a restaurant in Los Angeles, to the CP group which reinvests most of its profits back to the homeland in the PRC, to Thaksin whose offshore investments are well known, to the sale of 40 tonnes of gold back in 2010 when there was a credible threat to the stability of the country during the troubles. There is no reason that Thailand should not be as developed as South Korea, relative to such things as infrastructure and education, apart from it being treated as a colony with the relentless extraction of capital, that is profits that could be reinvested.

Why are you bringing Thaksin back into this debate ?

He was but one of several examples. The point was that everyone is moving capital offshore and have been doing so for a very long time. My post was not intended to take any position on Thaksin.

[Arkady]

Afrer a little more investigation it looks as if we talking about straight fraud here, if AMLO is to be believed. AMLO is investigating 10 people to do with the overseas transfers and says the largest transfer of B 495 million took place in 2010. I have dug up the 2010 annual report (attached) and there is nothing in the accounts suggestive of an overseas payment of that size or anything close. Nothing is disclosed about any royalty or licence fees paid abroad, just the rights to use the California Wow Experience trademark generously provided free of charge by Levine. It was a relatively small business and sales for the year were only B 1 billion . Thus, if AMLO's information is correct, siphoning off an amount equivalent to nearly half the year's sales revenue would have involved a fraud of a monumental nature with all levels of financial management, the audit committee and the company's auditors PWC complicit in the fraud. In that year Major was still a larger shareholder than Levine and his group, benefiting hugely from rental income paid by CAWOW and Major's Vichai was an non-executive director.

Realistically I would expect that the company overstated the expenses of the business systematically and perhaps also understated the sales. Therefore the fraud is not apparent in the accounts which must be pure fiction, happily audited by PWC year after year with only mild qualifications from the bone headed auditor. Probably the amount of B 495 remitted in 2010 was accumulated in 2009 and perhaps other prior years as well as 2010, given its large size relative to the business, stashed away in non-company accounts and remitted in 2010 when they knew the writing was on the wall.

It will be interesting to see how far AMLO pushes this. I think Major would like it to disappear. Even if they were not involved in fraud they look bad being the major shareholder and on the board at the time and benefiting substantially from the business through related party transactions. Therefore, I would guess that it will indeed disappear.

Sounds like you have it figured out. However, I see no reason to believe anything that I read about what AMLO knows or doesn't know and I wonder why you do?

Circles within circles and lunacy abounds.

Well, in my first sentence I did say, "if AMLO is to be believed" which is hardly grounds for your suggestion that I naively believe implicitly whatever they have alleged. I am simply weighing up AMLO's allegations in the light of publicly available information in lieu of any other information at this point. Can you suggest a more appropriate way to analyse the case? There is most likely something there, even if AMLO's public allegations are not totally correct. They would be foolish to reveal all they know anyway, while they are still at the investigative stage and hoping to smoke out more witnesses.

[Arkady]

Afrer a little more investigation it looks as if we talking about straight fraud here, if AMLO is to be believed. AMLO is investigating 10 people to do with the overseas transfers and says the largest transfer of B 495 million took place in 2010. I have dug up the 2010 annual report (attached) and there is nothing in the accounts suggestive of an overseas payment of that size or anything close. Nothing is disclosed about any royalty or licence fees paid abroad, just the rights to use the California Wow Experience trademark generously provided free of charge by Levine. It was a relatively small business and sales for the year were only B 1 billion . Thus, if AMLO's information is correct, siphoning off an amount equivalent to nearly half the year's sales revenue would have involved a fraud of a monumental nature with all levels of financial management, the audit committee and the company's auditors PWC complicit in the fraud. In that year Major was still a larger shareholder than Levine and his group, benefiting hugely from rental income paid by CAWOW and Major's Vichai was an non-executive director.

Realistically I would expect that the company overstated the expenses of the business systematically and perhaps also understated the sales. Therefore the fraud is not apparent in the accounts which must be pure fiction, happily audited by PWC year after year with only mild qualifications from the bone headed auditor. Probably the amount of B 495 remitted in 2010 was accumulated in 2009 and perhaps other prior years as well as 2010, given its large size relative to the business, stashed away in non-company accounts and remitted in 2010 when they knew the writing was on the wall.

It will be interesting to see how far AMLO pushes this. I think Major would like it to disappear. Even if they were not involved in fraud they look bad being the major shareholder and on the board at the time and benefiting substantially from the business through related party transactions. Therefore, I would guess that it will indeed disappear.

Afrer a little more investigation it looks as if we talking about straight fraud here, if AMLO is to be believed. AMLO is investigating 10 people to do with the overseas transfers and says the largest transfer of B 495 million took place in 2010. I have dug up the 2010 annual report (attached) and there is nothing in the accounts suggestive of an overseas payment of that size or anything close. Nothing is disclosed about any royalty or licence fees paid abroad, just the rights to use the California Wow Experience trademark generously provided free of charge by Levine. It was a relatively small business and sales for the year were only B 1 billion . Thus, if AMLO's information is correct, siphoning off an amount equivalent to nearly half the year's sales revenue would have involved a fraud of a monumental nature with all levels of financial management, the audit committee and the company's auditors PWC complicit in the fraud. In that year Major was still a larger shareholder than Levine and his group, benefiting hugely from rental income paid by CAWOW and Major's Vichai was an non-executive director.

Realistically I would expect that the company overstated the expenses of the business systematically and perhaps also understated the sales. Therefore the fraud is not apparent in the accounts which must be pure fiction, happily audited by PWC year after year with only mild qualifications from the bone headed auditor. Probably the amount of B 495 remitted in 2010 was accumulated in 2009 and perhaps other prior years as well as 2010, given its large size relative to the business, stashed away in non-company accounts and remitted in 2010 when they knew the writing was on the wall.

It will be interesting to see how far AMLO pushes this. I think Major would like it to disappear. Even if they were not involved in fraud they look bad being the major shareholder and on the board at the time and benefiting substantially from the business through related party transactions. Therefore, I would guess that it will indeed disappear.

All auditors can be bought. WorldCom,Enron and so many examples of it, even more son in the motherload of corruption .

You speak as if "buying off" an auditor is different from hiring an auditor. Fact is you hire an auditor to present the information that you provide into a palatable form relative to whatever government authority you may need to present that same financial data. You do not hire an auditor to ask any questions beyond the need to present and defend the data. But in Thailand, everyone is sending profits offshore, from small business owners who set up their kids with a restaurant in Los Angeles, to the CP group which reinvests most of its profits back to the homeland in the PRC, to Thaksin whose offshore investments are well known, to the sale of 40 tonnes of gold back in 2010 when there was a credible threat to the stability of the country during the troubles. There is no reason that Thailand should not be as developed as South Korea, relative to such things as infrastructure and education, apart from it being treated as a colony with the relentless extraction of capital, that is profits that could be reinvested.

I think you are a little confused about the role of an auditor. The auditor does not present any information in any form. That is done by the financial accountants whose role must legally be separated from that of the auditor. The auditor's role is to examine the financial statements provided by the financial accountants and determine through examination of supporting documents and interviews with management whether they provide a true and fair account of the financial condition and operations of the business during the period under review. While the auditor is hired by the board, he also has a legal responsibility to all of the company's shareholders and the government. Thus, he is legally bound to investigate anything that looks or smells as if it might be designed to defraud minority shareholders or tax authorities and can be held criminally liable, if he fails to do so.

The PWC auditor in the case repeatedly drew attention in his auditor's statements to uncertainties created by the company's persistent trading losses but failed to fully qualify the accounts which would have implied that he had some doubts about the documentation or representations made by management. He could thus have said that the statements provided a true and accurate impression based on information provided by management but that management had failed to provide the full information requested on certain issues. PWC would then have been fired and replaced by a Thai firm which would have sent alarm bells ringing and caused banks to cut credit lines. In my opinion the only honorable course of action would have been for PWC as a firm to seized the initiative and resign as auditors, rather than leave it all up to the pipsqueak CPA to deal with the problem by himself, since in Thailand individual auditors have to take responsibility rather than the firm. The auditor will undoubtedly be able to cover himself with records of audit papers but PWC might not come out of it smelling of roses.

I am confused by the general comments on remittance of profits overseas. What is the problem if shareholders of a business choose to remit their returns overseas? so long as the business has paid tax on the profits and the shareholders have paid tax on the dividends and have proper Bank of Thailand documentation for the remittance, they are perfectly entitled to invest in Thai restaurants in LA or whatever. Net capital inflows for investment remain positive which means that investment inflows are greater than investment outflows and official policy from the BoT and the Finance Ministry is in fact to encourage overseas investment as a means to increase Thailand's current account income and reduce upward pressure on the baht.

[ricklev]

I would suggest that, regarding the publication and veracity of the AMLO story, somebody pressured someone to to do something to get someone to do something that would ultimately get someone something they want.

[ongchart]

Founder is a Canadian - Eric Levine. He appeared in most high society magazines being featured with his ex-super model Thai wife. Here's a feature on his 50m baht house. http://www.designsigh.com/2009/09/eric-levine-home/

WOW! But also somebody posted a couple of days ago that the house has been sold . So possibly Eric Levine was screwed by his Thai partners. Surprise? Not really!

Also the math does not make sense to me. The article mentions more than 1000 members who paid 10.000 Baht. This amounts to 10 million Baht.

How can Levine be screwed when it's a listed company? He no longer finances the business from his own pocket like when it was a startup. Also, I suspect he would have sold some of his shares along the way.

[pb1936]

A big scam indeed....... bet many Thais wish they had thought of this one.

[bangkokstick]

A post in violation of fair use policy as well as this forum rule has been removed as well as the reply:

31) Bangkok Post do not allow quotes from their news articles or other material to appear on Thaivisa.com. Neither do they allow links to their publications. Posts from members containing quotes from or links to Bangkok Post publications will be deleted from the forum. Please note that this is a decision by the Bangkok Post, not by Thaivisa.com and any complaints or other issues concerning this rule should be directed to them. Quotes from and links to Phuketwan are also not allowed and will also be removed. In special cases forum Administrators or the news team may use these sources.

Hello,

Can I know where in the law can Bangkok post decide that we cannot link to its article ?

I am not arguing about moderation but I am really interested to know how can anyone pretend that it is not allowed to link and how can anyone respect this shxt rule that I am sure does not exist ?

Thank you.

[jbrain]

A post in violation of fair use policy as well as this forum rule has been removed as well as the reply:

31) Bangkok Post do not allow quotes from their news articles or other material to appear on Thaivisa.com. Neither do they allow links to their publications. Posts from members containing quotes from or links to Bangkok Post publications will be deleted from the forum. Please note that this is a decision by the Bangkok Post, not by Thaivisa.com and any complaints or other issues concerning this rule should be directed to them. Quotes from and links to Phuketwan are also not allowed and will also be removed. In special cases forum Administrators or the news team may use these sources.

Hello,

Can I know where in the law can Bangkok post decide that we cannot link to its article ?

I am not arguing about moderation but I am really interested to know how can anyone pretend that it is not allowed to link and how can anyone respect this shxt rule that I am sure does not exist ?

Thank you.

Ever heard about intellectual property ?

[bangkokstick]

Not about a link !

I can post any link to any website on my own sites and not even the biggest motherfuxxer in this world could do something against it.

[wallcracks]

The Thai police could redeem themselves to some extent by tracing where the money went, taking it back with a court order, and refunding it to the people who lost money. Oh sorry, just woke up from a dream..

Would be curious to find out what the ownership structure was. Had to be some heavy hitter Thai people involved, I suspect the news stories will not be naming them... :-)

Well yes, but no if the Account owner withdrew the money Cash and deposited it on a other Bank in a other Name or Co. Name..... The money is gone forever there is no way they can take it back..

[ILOOKFORWORK]

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.

The man planned the entire scam long before they were going under. He planned it even before opening the business. He didn't just panic and run away with 1.6 Billion baht. This was carefully planned and orchestrated. Tricky white collar crime. Laundered through the stock market, He got investments from listing it public,

then cashed out his shares, stole company cash as well; then he left. He's basically a con-artist, and a psychopath who looks like (from his photos) that he at one time did steroids.

[roguewo]

So some Thais got ripped off by a foreigner.

Thats a shame.

Some Thai's, and many foreigners, got ripped off by a Thai company, who had the audacity to name their company after a foreign state.

They should have called the company 'Bangkok WOW'..... but they probably wouldn't have had as many customers.

Thainess.....