Crime

Belarusian Escorts Gamble of Claiming She Had Tapes Linking Russia to Trump Backfiring

PATTAYA – Alexander Kirillov, Caught in a Thai police raid on her group’s seduction seminar, a Belarusian escort grabbed the world’s attention in February when she claimed to have audio recordings that might show a link between Russian officials and the election of President Donald Trump, betting that it could turn into a get-out-of-jail free card.

Six months later, her gamble appears to have badly backfired.

What began as a minor immigration charge has turned into a serious criminal case carrying the potential of 10 years of prison time in Thailand. And in a new interview with The New York Times, the escort, Anastasia Vashukevich, became coy about the content of her recordings — and said she now has no plan to make them public.

Ms Vashukevich, who goes by the name Nastya Rybka online, remains in a Thai prison along with the Belarusian man she calls her seduction coach, Alexander Kirillov, and six of their Russian associates.

Anastasia Vashukevich, left, and her associate Alexander Kirillov listen to an immigration officer outside Pattaya Provincial Court.

This week, a judge set their trial for mid-January, after they all pleaded not guilty to charges of indecency, conspiracy and belonging to a secret society — an escalation of charges that they claim they are facing because of the intervention of a foreign power they angered.

“They are afraid that I have something,” Ms Vashukevich said in the interview.

The events in Thailand are part of a continuing drama involving a powerful Russian tycoon, a seduction plot, and questions about the Kremlin’s interference in the US election.

Now, Ms Vashukevich says she sent copies of her recordings to the tycoon, Oleg V. Deripaska, with whom she says she had an affair and whose private conversations she recorded.

Her hope is that he will rescue her from prison.

“Now I just want to wait for Oleg’s answer,” she said. “I just want to be friends.”

Mr Deripaska has emerged as a pivotal figure in US relations with Russia.

One of Russia’s wealthiest men, he is close to President Vladimir Putin of Russia and had business ties to Mr Trump’s campaign manager, Paul Manafort.

In April, the United States imposed sanctions on Deripaska and six other Russian oligarchs as punishment for interference in the 2016 election and other Russian aggressions.

Manafort, who was convicted Aug 21 of financial fraud, owed millions to Mr Deripaska from a previous business venture. During the 2016 presidential campaign, he offered to provide Mr Deripaska with private briefings on Mr Trump’s campaign.

Through a spokesman, Mr Deripaska has denied any wrongdoing.

Vashukevich claims she had very close relations with Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska

In the summer of 2016, Ms Vashukevich set herself a goal of seducing a billionaire. Under Mr Kirillov’s guidance, she signed up with an escort agency and was one of several models sent to spend time on the yacht of a wealthy businessman off the coast of Norway. The owner of the yacht turned out to be Mr Deripaska.

Ms Vashukevich says she had an affair with him that began on the yacht and continued after they returned to Russia.

Also on the yacht as the oligarch’s guest was an influential Kremlin official and close associate of Mr utin, then the deputy prime minister, Sergei Prikhodko.

In keeping with Mr Kirillov’s training, she took pictures and recorded conversations while on the yacht. She posted photos of the two men and a recording of them talking about relations between the United States and Russia.

Ms Vashukevich’s posts might have received little attention but for a video investigation posted on YouTube in February by the Russian opposition figure, Alexei Navalny, which relied heavily on videos and photographs from Ms Vashukevich.

The revelation of the foreign yacht trip prompted speculation that it was cover for a rendezvous between representatives of the Kremlin and the Trump campaign. Mr Navalny charged that Mr Deripaska had delivered campaign reports from Manafort to the Kremlin.

Less than three weeks after Mr Navalny released his video, Ms Vashukevich, Mr Kirillov and eight others were arrested in a hotel conference room in Pattaya, where Mr Kirillov was leading a weeklong seminar on the art of seduction. Most of the attendees at the Russian-language sessions were male tourists from Russia.

Mr Kirillov has said that he believes he and Ms Vashukevich were targeted by a covert operation.

Police told The Times that a “foreign spy” was inside the conference room during the seminar and that the spy messaged waiting officers when it was time to raid the meeting.

Mr Kirillov’s group was initially accused of relatively minor immigration infractions, including working without a permit. As Ms Vashukevich was being transported in a police truck, she posted a video of herself on Instagram saying she had information about Russian interference in the election.

Soon after, she told The Times that she had more than 16 hours of audio recordings of her encounters with Mr Deripaska and his associates, including conversations with three visitors who she believed were Americans.

The immigration charges were soon resolved and two of the 10 were deported to Russia.

But before Ms Vashukevich and the others could be deported, police filed the charges of conspiracy, belonging to a secret society and indecency. They were all denied bail.

“When we start to talk about the elections, we go to prison for half a year,” Mr Kirillov said in the recent interview. “If we have nothing, why do they detain us? Even if we have nothing, they are scared we have something.”

During a court hearing last month, it became clear that the prosecution has built a larger case against them.

Kirilov also goes by the name “Alex Lesley” and has written eight books on seduction including one called Life without Panties.

Prosecutors said police obtained videos of Mr Kirillov and several other defendants participating in an orgy that involved about 30 people in Pattaya, a city known for its adult entertainment. The prosecution contends that the seduction seminar was set up to provide attendees with sex and that eight women were paid to take part in the orgy.

A central witness against them will be an American, Pavlo Yunko, who initially tried to help free them from jail but later handed over their electronic devices to police and agreed to cooperate, the prosecution said.

Mr Kirillov denied that the purpose of the seminar was to provide sex for anyone. Better known as Alex Lesley, Mr Kirillov has written several books on seduction and gained popularity in Russia for his advocacy of sexual freedom.

“I am the leader of the free love community in Russia,” he explained to the court as he argued that the seminar and the orgy at a private residence were not connected.

In pleading not guilty, Ms Vashukevich tearfully told the court that she had no teaching role at the seminar and did not take part in the orgy.

“What did I do that was wrong?” she asked plaintively. “I wasn’t there.”

By Richard C. Paddock
New York Times

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Richard C. Paddock reports on Southeast Asia as a contributor to The New York Times, based in Bangkok, Thailand. He has worked as a foreign correspondent for more than a dozen years and reported from nearly 50 countries on five continents, including wartime Bosnia and Iraq

Crime

Police Officer Being Ordained at Temple Arrested for Running Scam Call Center

Police in Northern Thailand have arrested a fellow officer as he was being ordained at a temple in Ngao district of neighbouring Lampang province.

Pol Lt Col Bandit Khonkan chief inspector from the Hang Dong police station was disrobed and taken to the Chang Puak station in Chiang Mai. He was arrested on charges of running a call centre scam gang in Chiang Mai Province.

According to Thai Media Chiang Mai Provincial Police Region 5 obtained an arrest warrant for Pol Lt Col Bandit on Friday from the Chiang Mai Provincial Court for procuring illegal telecom equipment, setting up a station and using public airwaves to run a telecommunications business without permission.

Pol Lt Col Bandit reportedly told investigators that he was not the ringleader and was only a member of the gang with Chinese partners.

His arrest followed the apprehension of his 26-year-old daughter, Miss Wanuchapond, 26, and three others during raids at three housing projects in Chiang Mai on Friday, Pol Maj Gen Weerachon Boontawee, deputy chief of Provincial Police Region 5 told Thai media.

During the raids police police discovered around 12 GSM gateways, or SIM boxes, which are devices used for converting cellular networks into mobile phone numbers used domestically.

The chief inspectors daughter Miss Wanuchapond told the arresting officers that she was paid 8,000 baht a month at each of the three locations for renting thr rooms and monitoring devices.

She claimed she had no idea what the devices were and accepted the job because the pay was attractive.

Police investigators working with telecom regulators used a special tracking device to monitor the gang’s communications and learned that its base was in Myanmar opposite Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai.

The call center gang used the GSM gateways to make calls over the internet to scam people in Thailand out of million of baht.

The GSM gateways transmitting signals via SIM boxes to convert them into domestic phone numbers, duping victims into thinking they were being called from Thai government agencies.

Pol Maj Gen Weerachon said that each SIM box held 32 SIM cards, with a capacity of up to 300,000 calls a month. The seized devices had made fraudulent calls over 3.6 million times.

He said the their investigation is ongoing and they are working to track down the remaining conspirators, including Chinese and other Thai suspects.

Authorities are still deciding whether Pol Lt Col Bandit will be dismissed from the force, he said, adding that so far, no other officers are known to have been involved.

Police in Chiang Rai Launch Crackdown on Cyber Criminals in Golden Triangle

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Settha Thavisin has authorized the establishment of an emergency cyber center operated by the Royal Thai Police to combat transnational crimes committed by call center gangs along the Thai border in Chiang Rai province.

On July 19, Prime Minister Settha Thavisin directed the Center to combat information technology crimes. The Royal Thai Police (Royal Thai Police) will crack down on call center gangs in Myanmar, Laos, and along the border.

His directive comes as call center gangs ratchet up their scams to defraud people of their money, causing concern among Thais and jeopardizing the country’s economic and social stability.

Related Police News:

Machete Wielding Man Shot an Killed by Police in Chiang Rai

https://www.chiangraitimes.com/chiangrai-news/machete-wielding-man-shot-an-killed-by-police-in-chiang-rai/

Crime

Thai Immigration Police Arrest Colombian Tourists Over Home Invasions

Immigration police officers have arrested four Colombian nationals in connection with a series of home burglaries at luxury housing complexes in the Bangkok metropolitan area and Chiang Buri Province.

Pol Maj Gen Panthana Nuchanart, deputy commissioner of the Immigration Bureau, told a press briefing that three of the suspects were apprehended in Nonthaburi Province and the fourth in South Pattaya, Chon Buri Province.

According to the Bangkok Post, the Colombians were charged with stealing conspiracy and seized around 3 million baht (US$82,500.00).

According to Pol Maj Gen Panthana, the criminals rode motorcycles through housing estates, scoping out the properties and waiting for the owners to depart before committing their crimes.

He stated that all four of the accused denied any involvement in the home break-ins, but the arresting squad discovered evidence that implicated them.

Police called to home invasion

Meanwhile, police were dispatched to a luxury housing development in Tambon Nong Prue, Chonburi Province, after a Chinese man was attacked during a house invasion.

When they arrived, they discovered the house owner, Mr. Qian Peng Yi, visibly scared and with marks from being tied up with a cable. He informed police that three Chinese males broke into his home at 9 p.m., one of whom brandished a gun at him and directed him to his bedroom.

They bound his hands and feet, gagged him with fabric, taped his head, and forced him into the bed. The intruders then attempted to compel him into transferring 10 million baht in cryptocurrencies to them, endangering the life of his 33-year-old cousin who was in a second-floor bedroom.

While they scoured the house in search of riches, Mr. Peng Yi managed to flee and hide; he subsequently observed them leave with his cousin. Officials investigated the property and analyzed security camera footage from the incident and surrounding areas.

Around 9 p.m., a 30-year-old van driver came at the Bang Lamung police station after being contacted by an agency to carry Chinese customers from Pattaya to Suvarnabhumi Airport.

The driver informed authorities that he was supposed to pick them up at a motel about a kilometer from the Chinese businessman’s home. He then drove them to Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport, arriving at 1 a.m. and receiving 1,800 baht.

The driver took a snapshot of the group smoking at the airport gate and identified one of them as the victim’s cousin. Police suspected coordination between her and the three suspects in her cousin’s heist, who all departed Thailand on the same aircraft.

Other Bangkok News:

Police in Bangkok Discover Six Vietnamese Tourists Dead in 5 Star Hotel

Police in Bangkok Discover Six Vietnamese Tourists Dead in 5 Star Hotel

Crime

Son of Thailand’s Leading Legal Scholar on Corruption Arrested for Running Online Gambling Network

The son of a former senator and leading economist and expert on corruption and gambling in Thailand has been arrested for on charges of running an online gambling network and its payment system.

Police from Thailand’s Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD) have confiscated assets worth more than (US$ 11.1 million) 400 million baht.

Narote Piriyarangsan, 33, was arrested following crackdowns in three sites around the city, according to Pol Maj Gen Athip Pongsiwapai, commander of the police Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD).

Mr Narote’s father, Sangsit Piriyarangsan, is an economist who has written articles and books about corruption and gambling. He was one of the appointed senators that were investigating the government’s intention to legalize casino gaming before their terms expired.

Police also detained 39-year-old Narayut Narakaew, the owner of the gambling website 69pgslot.com. The Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for the couple for operating an internet gambling service and money laundering.

According to the Bangkok Post, police seized two desktop computers, one laptop computer, 14 mobile phones, 21 bank passbooks, 53 ATM cards, and four high-end cars — a Ferrari 926 GTS, an Aston Martin, a Lexus, and a Subaru — totaling more than 400 million baht.

Police launched the inquiry after discovering the online gambling site, which accepted funds via an automatic deposit-withdrawal system through bank accounts and deposits in the AskMePay system. Players scanned the VPay QR code as well as the QR codes for Heng Online 888 or Heng Pay Company.

Police also discovered that payments received via QR code scans were transferred to the account of Heng Pay Co and then to the gambling website’s mule accounts using AskMePay, which did not use banks’ face recognition scanning. An inquiry indicated a monthly turnover of approximately 5 billion baht.

According to investigators, the website has been up and running for around four years, with the payment mechanism in use for roughly eight months.

According to Pol Maj Gen Athip, Mr Narote owns the gaming website’s payment systems and is the director of Heng Pay Co. After gathering evidence, authorities requested arrest warrants for 14 people.

Thailand does not allow almost any kind of gaming. Even though the law doesn’t say anything specific about online gaming, it is still considered gambling. The country has pretty strict rules about gambling. Thai punters can bet on the national lottery and horse races, but they can’t bet on any other types of games.

But it’s not a secret that there is a huge illegal gaming business in Thailand, even though it’s illegal.

The illegal casinos, online betting shops, underground lotteries, and pop-up bookies that take bets on everything from cockfights to Muay Thai make a shadow economy that is worth billions of dollars every year.