Bangkok, December 22, 2014 ? The SEC filed a criminal complaint with the Economic Crime Division of the Royal Thai Police (ECD Police) against Yuttana Lipirodkul for operating unlicensed securities and derivatives businesses.

Vasant Thienhom, SEC Deputy Secretary-General, said that ?Following suspicious report, the SEC probed into the case and found that Yuttana held himself out as money manager and managed money for others by seeking benefits from investment in derivatives. He advertised and solicited investing public to apply for a membership and raised fund from those who became members, claiming that the fund will be used to make investment in stock and derivatives exchanges. In addition, Yuttana held himself out as investment advisor, offered advice and obtained benefits from giving advice for investment in securities and derivatives. The said actions were done under the name ?Nateethong? through the web blog: URL http://nateethong.bloggang.com.

Due to the fact that Yuttana was neither licensed to operate securities businesses in the category of mutual fund management and investment advisory nor licensed to operate derivatives business, his actions were in violation of the Securities and Exchange Act B.E. 2535 (SEA) and the Derivatives Act B.E. 2546 (DA). Under Section 289 of the SEA, the said violation was subject to an imprisonment from 2-5 years or a fine from 200,000-500,000 baht or both and a further fine not exceeding 10,000 baht for every day during which the violation continues. Also, the violation was subject to an imprisonment up to three years or a fine not exceeding 300,000 baht or both and a further fine not exceeding 10,000 baht for every day during which the violation continues under Section 125 of the DA. The SEC, therefore, filed a criminal complaint against Yuttana with the ECD for further proceedings.  At this juncture, any person suffering damage from investment with the said person should contact the ECD Police at 0-2237-1199 for further legal proceedings.?

?At present, scammers use a variety of approaches and patterns to lure investing public; for instance, soliciting general public to invest in securities and derivatives or offering investment advisory services where they asked for fees or benefits in return. Sometimes, they tried to convince the public that their services were legal and needed no permission from the SEC. Therefore, the SEC urges everyone to be cautious and deal only with licensed business operators in order to avoid scams and rip-offs. List of licensees is available at the SEC website (www.sec.or.th) under ?License Check? banner. In case of suspicious unlicensed activities, please report the SEC at 1207 for further investigation,? Vasant added.

Information contained in this news release is as of the aforementioned release date. For those who wish to see current status of the matter,
please go to compliant filed with inquiry officer