Bail denied for celeb couple running porn and gambling websites
Bail has been denied for the former soap star and her computer programmer husband who just made sensational headlines for operating gambling and porn websites. The pair were arrested on Thursday along with an accomplice by the Crime Suppression Division and were just denied bail by the Criminal Court.
Arrest warrants were issued for actress Thamolphan Phanuchitputthiwong, better known as “Yam” Thamolphan, along with her computer-wiz husband Phumphat Prasertwit and another man, Chetchai Hongkham. They are facing charges of colluding in disseminating pornographic material, organising online gambling, conspiring to commit money laundering and colluding in laundering money.
Police said they deemed the rich celebrity couple a big flight risk when they appealed to the court on Friday for temporary bail. The court’s official opinion was that the trio’s crimes did enormous damage to society and that their huge wealth was likely illegally acquired. Chetchai declined to request bail for his role in the illegal websites according to the Bangkok Post.
The three are now being held at Bangkok Remand Prison. Over 700 million baht worth of luxury assets were seized by the Central Investigation Bureau in the criminal bust as well.
Police have spent more than two years investigating gambling at www.ufa24h.net and porn at hd.star4k.com. The money trail leads directly to the many doors of Phumphat and Thamolphan. The couple directly benefitted from membership fees and gambling via the websites for which they were just denied bail.
According to police, Chetchai made cash withdrawals totalling 400 million baht between April and September this year on the orders of Phumphat. The couple’s gambling site has about 40,000 members, with 7 billion baht in monthly turnover.
