Mastermind in $32m luxury goods scam gets 14 years' jail

She collected millions in payments despite knowing orders could not be fulfilled

- Nadine Chua

A Thai woman who masterminded a scheme to cheat almost 200 victims in a luxury goods scam was sentenced to 14 years' jail on Oct 29.

Pansuk Siriwipa, 30, who joined court proceedings via video link, looked down and nodded when the judge read out the sentence.

On Oct 21, Pansuk pleaded guilty to 30 charges, including for cheating, fraudulent trading and money laundering.

She had collected payments for luxury bags and watches amounting to more than $25 million, despite knowing these orders could not be fulfilled.

She faced a total of 180 charges, with the remaining 150 charges taken into consideration during sentencing.

Pansuk and her Singaporean husband, Pi Jiapeng, 29, made headlines in 2022 as the couple involved in the $32 million luxury goods scam.

Between May and August that year, 187 police reports were filed against their companies, Tradenation and Tradeluxury, for not fulfilling orders even though payments had been made in full.

In sentencing, District Judge Christopher Goh said he found the sentence appropriate and "not crushing", as it accurately reflects Pansuk's criminality in this whole scheme.

He said: "There is no escaping the fact that the amount of money involved is huge, amounting to almost $26 million.

"Although there is some degree of overlap between the fraudulent trading charges and the cheating charges... I have only considered the amount in the fraudulent trading charges."