The iCon Group founder and CEO Warathaphon Waratyaworrakul cried and promised full compensation while facing relatives of investing partners who lost their money and died after his company’s products failed to sell.
Mr Warathaphon, 41, aka Boss Paul, took part in the popular Hon Krasae (follow tides) talk programme anchored by Kanchai Kamnerdploy on TV Channel 3 on Monday, and met relatives of people who died after investing as dealers in the group’s products and losing their money.
One woman’s elder brother, a native of Phayao province, reportedly committed suicide by drinking weedkiller after his investment in the group’s products bombed out.
She said her brother, Nikhom, had borrowed about 250,000 baht from their mother to invest in the products, and could not find a way out after his business failed. He committed suicide two years ago.
Also on the programme was the younger sister of a retired government official who had also died. She said her brother was seriously ill, ignored the family’s objections and invested 250,000 baht he borrowed from others in the direct sales business of The iCon Group.
He spent all his money on training courses and cocoa products that he could not sell.
The affected people reportedly invested through the business group’s dealers, who they said did not offer any assistance despite their requests. After one investor died, one supervising dealer allegedly invited that person’s relative to also invest.
Another woman, Patcharee, who suffers from polio, heart disease and hypertension and uses a wheelchair, also took part in the programme. She said she lost 170,000-baht invested in products from The iCon Group. The money came from her savings and a loan of about 100,000 from her elder sister.
She had high hopes for her investment after a conference with Mr Warathaphon and other celebrities. Instead, she lost it all.
Several others had invested in the business when they tried to generate income during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mr Warathaphon sometimes cried during the programme and said he had been unaware of those investors who were seriously ill, and what became of them, and he was deeply sorry for their loss. His call centre had received requests for business assistance, but had never been informed of any suicide by the group’s investing vendors, he said.
Mr Warathaphon apologised and promised to accept responsibility and commit his wealth to compensating his investors.
He also told Mr Kanchai, the show’s host, that he started his company specifically to do direct marketing. It does both wholesale and retail.
Mr Warathaphon said he had ten dealers who bought products from his group and marketed the goods through their own dealers and outlets.
He said that initially (six years ago) his group sold only one collagen product and later expanded to coffee products. He then explored opportunities in dietary supplement products and The iCon Group now had 14 products.
Mr Warathaphon also said his company hired actors and actresses only to present its products, and they did not invite others to invest in the business.
The Central Investigation Bureau said on Monday that police had questioned 635 complainants in the case to date, and they said they had lost 232.4 million baht in total investment.
Police had also received other complaints online, which raised the total number of complainants in the case to 1,067 people, and their total alleged losses to 378 million baht.
