This sounds like something straight out of a Daniel Silva novel, a high suspense thriller. The possibilities for the writer seem endless.
The story goes back a few weeks. On the Rooshvforum, the owner of the site reported that one of its members, “Rawmeo,” had died in Thailand. I had seen the occasional essay he posted onto the message board about his life as an ex-pat there. He seemed to be living the life, a wealthy young man with a wife and mistresses on the side.
The moment I saw the post that he died, I did a web search for foreigners dying in Thailand, and I thought I found a match. His name was given as Alexandre Cazes, a 26 year old French Canadian. The claim was he died of suicide in prison because he was facing extradition to the U.S.
Then I found news stories about the deceased. He was an apparent underground crime lord who hosted a dark web site dedicated to supporting the endeavors of those pursuing illegal purchases of drugs, guns, and identity theft information. His enterprise facilitated the purchases and sales, based upon a commission.
Going back to the Rooshvforum site, I saw all the posts he made, one in particular where he boasted about his wealth. Members of the group questioned him about how he could have gotten so much money in such a short time. He included pictures and apparently sent videos to prove he really was wealthy.
Sometime thereafter, the post discussing his death and all his posts were locked. These were made accessible only to registered members of the site.
Recently, the owner of the site posted an essay and confirmed what I had guessed, that “Rawmeo” was Alexandre Cazes and that the authorities had investigated him through his posts on the site. Just think of the surveillance that must have required, including engaging with him on the message board!
The U.S. government is pursing a forfeiture action to seize his assets, estimated to be worth $23 million.
Someone suggested one major mistake was that he moved to Thailand instead of a country where he would have been more likely to fit in, like Argentina.
Cazes is in the picture on the left, in front of the very car I saw in one of his posts. The Argentinian soccer player in the middle of the picture on the right resembles him.
Copyright Barbara James. All rights reserved.
Barbara James 