Thai Police Seek Interpol Red Notice for Alleged KuCoin Money Launderer Linked to Scam Syndicates

Police in Thailand have requested Interpol to issue a red notice against Benjamin Mauerberger, an alleged money launderer for South Asian scam operations with links to the crypto exchange KuCoin. Thailand's Crime Suppression Division filed the request, which, if approved, would result in a global arrest warrant. Mauerberger, a South African businessman, and his wife, Cattaliya Beevor, were charged last week in Thailand with investment fraud and money laundering for allegedly conning investors out of 1 billion baht ($31.6 million) in 2016 through fraudulent projects involving power plants, private jets, and real estate. Mauerberger reportedly fled Bangkok last September and is now residing in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), moving between the UAE, Cambodia, and Dubai to evade US authorities who allege he played a key role in laundering funds for scam syndicates. According to Project Brazen's Whale Hunting newsletter, Mauerberger helped KuCoin and its Thai subsidiary secretly acquire shares in his wife's firm, Finansia X PCL. The firm was reportedly used by Mauerberger and his Cambodian associates to move large sums of money into KuCoin without regulatory oversight.