AMLO freezes THB8.3bn linked to Yim Leak-Ben Smith network
AMLO says the alleged cross-border network moved tens of billions of baht through Thai and overseas accounts before recycling funds into Thai property, luxury vehicles and securities.
Thailand’s Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO) has temporarily seized and frozen assets worth about THB8.269 billion linked to an alleged transnational money-laundering network involving Cambodian businessman Yim Leak and Benjamin Mauerberger, alias Ben Smith, saying the case could seriously affect Thailand’s economic system and financial stability.
Acting under Transaction Committee Order No. Y.96/2569 dated April 8, 2026, AMLO said the action covered 34 items, including six vehicles still being appraised and 28 cash, deposit and securities-account items.
Assets frozen under April 8 order
AMLO said a joint investigation with the Central Investigation Bureau found evidence linking people in the network — including Yim Leak, Virinya Yim, Ben Smith and Katreeya Beaver — to alleged predicate offences including drug crimes, human trafficking, public fraud, membership of a secret society and participation in a transnational criminal organisation.
The agency said the group was linked through complex business and financial structures to foreign entities including Capital Asia Investments Pte. Ltd., CAI Optimum Fund VCC and Opus–Chartered Issuances S.A. According to AMLO, funds were transferred from neighbouring countries into Thai accounts, sent onward to overseas accounts in transactions worth tens of billions of baht, and then cycled back into Thailand through purchases of land, houses, condominiums, luxury cars and large holdings of securities.
AMLO said the network used domestic and offshore corporate vehicles, front businesses and capital-market companies to disguise the origin of the money, obscure the beneficial owners, avoid scrutiny and evade tax. It described the pattern as systematic laundering by a transnational criminal organisation and said the case reflects a more sophisticated form of modern money laundering that will require continued international cooperation.
Singapore probe adds another layer
AMLO also pointed to regulatory action in Singapore involving Capital Asia Investments. Singapore police and the Monetary Authority of Singapore said they carried out an enforcement operation against the fund manager on March 5, 2026, arrested two directors and seized more than S$160 million from its bank and securities accounts. MAS said it found “serious control failings” in the firm’s anti-money laundering compliance, while police said intelligence suggested the company and related entities were allegedly involved in a transnational money-laundering network tied to overseas organised crime, including scams.
Who Yim Leak and Ben Smith are
Yim Leak is a Cambodian businessman identified as chairman of BIC Group and as being associated with BIC Bank Cambodia. In December, Thai authorities have already seized trading accounts connected to him, including Bangchak shares worth 6 billion baht, as part of a broader crackdown on alleged scam-linked financial flows.
Benjamin Mauerberger, better known in Thailand as Ben Smith, is the foreign businessman named in a separate March 2026 police case over alleged cross-border investment fraud and money laundering. The Central Investigation Bureau said it had obtained arrest warrants for Mauerberger and his wife, Katreeya Beaver, in a case alleging losses of more than THB1 billion
