Man sentenced to 13,275 years’ jail term over $160million ponzi scheme fraud (Details, pics)

That is, thirteen thousand, two hundred and seventy-five years’ jail term. Pudit Kittithradilok, 34, received the harsh punishment after he pleaded guilty to operating a Ponzi scheme in Thailand that earned his companies upwards of $160m.

His confession got him a 50 per cent discount on his jail term, which reduced it to 6,637 years and six months.

Officials had found Pudit to have been involved in a staggering 2,653 counts of fraud against approximately 40,000 people. The court heard he seduced his victims during seminars and then duped them into investing in numerous businesses.

After they signed up, they were told they could earn money by getting others to invest as well. But this was all a ruse and it was just a classic pyramid scheme where new money invested would just be used to pay people who had got on board earlier. Pudit is only likely to serve a maximum of 20 years, despite the long sentence. That’s because Thailand has a 10-year maximum sentence for the two crimes he admitted, the Bangkok Post reported.

But he faces a huge financial bill after his businesses were fined a total of $40m and were told to repay victims $17m.

Pudit is currently in Bangkok Remand Prison, where he has been since he was arrested back in August.