Police in Thailand have asked Interpol to issue a red notice against Benjamin Mauerberger, an alleged money launderer for a number of South Asian scam operations with links to the world’s once-fourth largest crypto exchange, KuCoin.
Local media reports that Thailand’s Crime Suppression Division filed a request that, if approved, would see Interpol issue a global warrant for Mauerberger’s arrest.
Thailand charged the South African businessman and his wife, Cattaliya Beevor, with investment fraud and money laundering last week.
Courts accused the duo of conning investors out of 1 billion baht ($31.6 million) in 2016 through a series of fraudulent projects involving power plants, private jets, and real estate investments.
Mauerberger reportedly fled his base in Bangkok last September and is now residing in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Read more: Cambodia has deported 48K foreigners since scam center crackdown began
He’s been documented hopping between the UAE, Cambodia, and Dubai in an attempt to evade US authorities that allege he’s played a key role in laundering funds for numerous scam syndicates.
Indeed, according to Project Brazen’s Whale Hunting newsletter, Mauerberger helped KuCoin and its Thai subsidiary secretly acquire shares in his wife’s firm, Finansia X PCL.
The firm was reportedly used by Mauerberger and his Cambodian associates to move large sums of money into KuCoin without regulatory oversight.
It also accused Mauerberger of using a Laos-based bitcoin ($BTC) mining firm with connections to Thailand’s former prime minister, to launder funds and make them look like freshly mined crypto.
Read more: Cambodian scam rings facing disruption since kingpin’s arrest
In addition, Mauerberger was reportedly the financial fixer for Thailand’s political dynasty and helped the country’s former prime minister acquire a $60 million private jet and investments in energy firms.
Protos has reached out to KuCoin for comment and will update this piece should we hear anything back.
Taiwan indicts scam kingpin Chen Zi in absentia
Mauerberger’s alleged shadow enterprise, which includes $1.5 billion worth of properties, assets, and firms, is reportedly connected to other alleged scam kingpins such as the recently arrested and extradited Chen Zi.
Zi’s “Prince Group ”corporation, based in Cambodia, was sanctioned by the US and UK last October alongside Huione Group. The US seized $15 billion worth of $BTC in connection to Zi’s alleged scam enterprise.
Reuters reports that Taiwan has indicted 62 people linked to the Prince Group today, including Chen Zi, who was indicted in absentia.
Singaporean and Taiwanese authorities found $700 million in assets linked to his alleged operations, and Taiwan uncovered $334 million of laundered funds that entered the country between 2025 and 2026.