Three Irishmen were among seven foreigners who appeared in a Thai court yesterday accused of masterminding an international share scam that affected scores of investors.
Defence lawyer Mr Prakob Udomchoti told the court his clients had not acted unlawfully.
"We've done things they said we did but all of them were legal both in the US and Australia. All we have to prove in court is whether they were legal also in Thailand," he said.
The Irishmen, along with three Britons and one Australian, are accused of luring foreigners to invest in non-existent stocks abroad. Bangkok prosecutors say they are believed to have defrauded investors of over $40,000. If convicted, they face up to 10 years in prison. The hearing was adjourned until next Wednesday.
According to the Thai Securities Exchange Commission, the suspects operated unlicensed stock brokerage firms, employing about 100 people, including Britons and Irish, as salespeople. They would call investors abroad and convince them to invest their money in shares of non-existent or shaky companies outside Thailand.
After a two-year investigation, police in July raided the alleged fraudsters' Bangkok offices - known as "boiler rooms" for the high-pressure sales tactics employed there - and arrested 80 foreigners.
Seventy-three of them were deported, while the seven alleged masterminds were charged.
They are: Irishmen Mr Paul Mary Hickey (48), Mr John Martin Kealy (36), and Mr Ronan Joseph Murray (28); Britons Mr Steven Hooper (28), Mr Jason Garrick Rich (24), and Mr Adrian Robert Wallis (54); and Australian Scott Campbell Fisher (34).
Prosecutors said they presented themselves as executives of various brokerage firms called the Brinton Group, Benson Dupont Capital Management, Osiris Asia Pacific, Strategic Alliance Corporation, Sigama Capital Management and Dreyfus Capital. The investigation into their activities was conducted by the Australian authorities and the FBI following complaints by securities regulators in Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong. Australian and US agents joined the Thai police in the raid.
