US Targets Former Thai Deputy Finance Minister in Online Scam Sanctions Push
US Targets Former Thai Deputy Finance Minister in Online Scam Sanctions Push
BANGKOK, 20 September 2026 — Former Thai Deputy Finance Minister Vorapak Tanyawong has been named among 26 individuals and two entities that two senior US House lawmakers have asked the US government to investigate for potential sanctions over alleged links to Southeast Asian online scam networks.
In a letter dated September 15 to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast and House Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar requested that the US administration determine within 180 days whether the named individuals and entities meet the legal criteria for sanctions.
The lawmakers said their initiative was aimed at strengthening the crackdown on overseas cyber-fraud networks accused of defrauding American victims of billions of dollars each year, as well as links to human trafficking, forced labour and other serious abuses. The request reportedly includes possible action under several US sanctions authorities, including the Global Magnitsky Act.
Vorapak is the only Thai national on the list, which also includes several Cambodian officials and business figures, as well as Fully Light Group of Companies Ltd and White Sands Palace Casino.
The US lawmakers’ request does not itself impose sanctions or establish that any of the named individuals committed an offence. The proposed targets are being referred for investigation and a determination on whether applicable legal criteria are met.
Vorapak served as Thailand’s deputy finance minister under Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul from September to October 2025. He resigned in October following reports linking him to transactions involving efforts to acquire majority control of SET-listed brokerage and investment banking firm Finansia X.
Vorapak has denied any involvement in scam networks, money laundering, human trafficking or other illegal activities. He has also pursued criminal defamation proceedings in Thailand over allegations concerning his business dealings.
The case places the former Thai minister at the centre of a wider US effort to investigate financial and political links allegedly supporting Southeast Asia’s rapidly expanding online scam industry.
