The St Kitts and Nevis Citizenship by Investment (CBI) Programme has once again been placed under the microscope with Thailand’s arrest of a man in a $100 million fraud case. Peter Coker Jr. was arrested in a resort area of Phuket, Thailand on January 11th. Thai police in a statement said that Coker Jr had entered Thailand several years ago with a passport from St. Kitts and Nevis.
Coker Jr was wanted in connection with an alleged stock manipulation scheme in the United States that led a small New Jersey deli to be listed as a public company worth $100 million.
The Bangkok Post reported that Coker Jr. was arrested pursuant to red and black notices issued by the International Criminal Police Organization, Interpol.
Thai police, working with the FBI, arrested Coker Jr. after tracking him to the hotel, The Post reported.
Coker Jr. had served as chairman of Hometown International, whose sole asset for years was the Your Hometown Deli in Paulsboro, New Jersey.
His father, Peter Coker Sr., 83, was a major shareholder in the company, which in 2021 had a stock market capitalization of $100 million despite the deli having less than $40,000 in total annual revenue. Coker Sr. is also facing federal charges along with a third defendant, 63-year-old James Patten
Prosecutors have said that the Cokers and Patten “artificially inflated” the values of Hometown International and E-Waste stock by 939% and 19,900% respectively through manipulated trades in shares.