Singaporean involved in $32m luxury goods scam with Thai wife jailed for more than 5 years

A Singaporean man who helped his Thai wife run a multi-million-dollar luxury goods scam was sentenced to a jail term of five years and 10 months.

Pi Jiapeng, 30, pleaded guilty to three charges for fraudulent trading, breaching his duties as a director and money laundering on Tuesday (Oct 14).

According to the police, another four charges were also taken into consideration in his sentencing.

Pi and his wife, Pansuk Siriwipa, 30, were arrested in August 2022 after fleeing the country during police investigations.

They made the headlines in 2022 as the couple involved in the $32 million luxury goods scam.

The couple started two businesses, Tradenation and Tradeluxury, operating primarily as re-sellers of luxury watches and bags on a pre-order basis, offering the goods for sale online.

The luxury goods were sold at fixed prices around 10 to 20 per cent lower than other local resellers, and customers were required to make full payment when placing their order.

According to the police, Pi was the sole director of both companies.

At Tradenation, Pi made withdrawals and transfers from the company’s bank account on the instructions of his wife, and occasionally liaised with customers regarding their orders. 

At Tradeluxury, he had no substantive involvement despite being the company’s director, said the police. 

Pansuk handled most of the operations at both companies, and was responsible for communicating with customers, sourcing suppliers and arranging for the delivery of goods. 

Police investigations found that both companies had run into financial difficulties by February 2022, as they were sourcing their goods at a higher price than they sold to customers.

By March 2022, Pi was aware of the significant losses made but continued to allow her to run the business.

Between March and June 2022, she collected $24.8 million for orders that were eventually unfulfilled. 

According to the police, there were over 180 reports filed against the two firms alleging fraud and failure to deliver luxury goods as promised.

At the time, Pi was also receiving a salary of $40,000 a month from Tradenation and a salary of $12,000 a month from Tradeluxury, reported CNA.

The prosecutor, Deputy Public Prosecutor David Koh, sought a jail term between five-and-a-half to six-and-a-half years' jail for Pi.

He argued that his role as a director of both companies meant that was responsible for running the firms and meeting its obligations to customers, said CNA.

"He had reason to believe the companies were being operated like a Ponzi scheme... but he allowed them to be run in this way by his wife for an extended period of time, causing substantial losses to customers," DPP Koh said.

The court heard that Pi did not make any restitution to the victims.

Pansuk was sentenced to 14 years in jail in October 2024, after pleading guilty to 30 charges including for cheating, fraudulent trading and money laundering.

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dana.leong@asiaone.com