The Asphalt King Who Went Too Far
by Bradley Hope
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Leaked photographs from a private Instagram account reveal that the son of Thailand’s former Deputy Finance Minister was flying on the Mauerberger network’s Gulfstream and vacationing on their $100 million superyacht—while his father claimed they were just school friends.
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When Vorapak Tanyawong resigned as Thailand's Deputy Finance Minister in October 2025, he offered a simple, dismissive explanation for his ties to Benjamin Mauerberger, the fugitive architect of a $1.5 billion money laundering empire. He claimed he only knew Mauerberger as a casual acquaintance from their children’s school.
The school connection is real. Vorapak’s children attended the same school as Mauerberger’s kids. But when Vorapak said “school friends,” he apparently also meant: private jet companions, superyacht guests, and business partners. It was a generous definition of the term. When Whale Hunting published photographic proof of Vorapak and Mauerberger on a business trip, Vorapak doubled down. He threatened to sue journalists. In November, he filed a 50-million-baht ($1.4 million) criminal defamation lawsuit against Sarinee Achavanuntakul, a respected Thai financial analyst, for daring to write about his connections.
But the “school parent” defense was always a half-truth, designed to obscure a relationship that ran far deeper than any school gate. And now, a trove of leaked photographs from a private Instagram account has exposed just how deep it went.
The account belongs to Kant Tanyawong, Vorapak’s adult son. The images show Kant living a life bankrolled by the network: flying on the network’s Gulfstream private jet, vacationing on the Wanderlust, the $100 million superyacht co-owned by Mauerberger and his Cambodian partner Yim Leak, and displaying a watch collection worth close to $1 million.
Most school friendships involve playdates and birthday parties. This one involved a Gulfstream and a $100 million superyacht.
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Kant Tanyawong is the eldest son of Vorapak and Kanokporn Tanyawong. He was born around 2000, making him approximately 25 years old. Kant studied at University College London, where he earned a degree in Economics. His UCL academic page listed research interests in financial markets. He then moved to Imperial College London for a master’s degree, where he is currently enrolled. He maintains at least two Instagram accounts. The primary account, @3805281_1000, is private and contains the most damaging images. A secondary account, @randomthaiguy, is a public showcase for his watch collection.
The Mauerberger network operated a fleet of private jets to move cash, executives, and political allies across borders. One of the leaked photographs shows Kant Tanyawong sitting in the cabin of a Gulfstream jet – a G650-ER that Mauerberger had recently purchased. Kant is wearing a dark watch on his left wrist – consistent with an Audemars Piguet – and holding a pair of sunglasses.
A second photograph from the account shows the interior of the same Gulfstream, this time tagged “Phuket, Thailand.” The image shows an open notebook filled with handwritten notes, an iPad, and a Dior tote bag on the credenza. The flight display monitor is clearly visible, showing a live stock ticker: Lumen Technologies Inc. (LUMN) trading at $1.81, up $0.04.
We pulled the complete historical price data for LUMN and searched for every trading day where the stock closed at $1.81, up $0.04 from a previous close of $1.77. That exact price movement occurred on only two dates: July 26, 2023 and December 15, 2023.
In late 2023, Vorapak Tanyawong was the Vice Chairman and largest shareholder of Finansia X PCL (having acquired his controlling stake in its predecessor, Finansia Syrus). This acquisition was funded by a $10 million loan from Capital Asia Investments, a Singapore-based firm now identified by authorities as a front for the criminal network of Benjamin Mauerberger.
As Finansia listed on the Thai stock exchange, Vorapak's son was flying out of Phuket on a private jet connected to a transnational money laundering syndicate. Just school friends, of course.
The aviation access was just the beginning. The leaked photographs also place Kant Tanyawong on the Wanderlust, the 85-meter SilverYachts explorer vessel that serves as the floating headquarters for the Mauerberger network.
As we reported in The Superyachts of a Global Criminal, the Wanderlust was delivered in late 2022 and is co-owned by Mauerberger and Yim Leak, a powerful Cambodian developer. The yacht is not merely a pleasure craft. It is a geopolitical tool. In December 2024, it was lent to former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra for a diplomatic meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim near Koh Lipe.
Kant Tanyawong also enjoyed access to this vessel.
Two photographs from Kant’s private account are tagged at Padar Island, part of Indonesia’s Komodo National Park. One shows the Wanderlust at anchor, taken from a dive tender. The yacht’s name is legible on the hull. The other shows a sunset from the upper deck, with the yacht’s crane deploying a rigid inflatable boat.
How do we know when these were taken? The dry, brown hillsides of Padar Island visible in the background are the giveaway. Komodo’s dry season runs from May to October; during the wet season (November through April), the same hillsides are lush and green. The parched landscape in these images confirms a dry-season visit.
According to yacht charter records and AIS tracking data, the Wanderlust spent 2023 and 2024 cruising the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia. It did not enter European waters until the summer of 2025. This places Kant’s Komodo trip in the dry season of either 2023 or 2024 – the height of the network’s operations in Asia.
In late 2025, the walls began closing in on the Mauerberger network. Whale Hunting had published Crisis of Complicity, exposing the network's covert takeover of Finansia with Vorapak's help. We had revealed that Vorapak’s wife, Kanokporn, received a $2.94 million payment in Tether (USDT) from the network. Vorapak became Deputy Finance Minister on Sept. 19. Only 33 days later, amid the news of his connections to Mauerberger, he would resign.
Yet during the summer of 2025, as the scandal was breaking open, his son was still vacationing on the network’s yacht.
A photograph tagged “Capri, Italy” shows Kant standing on the aft deck of the Wanderlust, looking out over the Mediterranean.
We know when this was taken. According to yacht spotters who documented the Wanderlust off the coast of Antibes in October 2025, the vessel "spent the summer cruising Europe for the first time, between the Med and Scandinavia.” Before summer 2025, the yacht had never been in European waters.
This means Kant Tanyawong was hosted on the Wanderlust in the Mediterranean between June and September 2025, while his father was either chief adviser to Thailand's Finance Minister or Deputy Finance Minister himself, and while Whale Hunting was actively publishing investigations into the network that owned the boat beneath his feet. The school friendship, it seems, came with a Mediterranean cruise.
Then there are the watches.
A secondary Instagram account operated by Kant, @randomthaiguy, functions as a digital catalog of high-end horology. It contains at least ten photographs of luxury watches, including what appears to be a Richard Mille, multiple Patek Philippes, and Audemars Piguets. In one image, a watch rests on a shirt cuff embroidered with the initials “KT.”
The watch collection displayed on Kant Tanyawong's @randomthaiguy Instagram account. The collection includes what appears to be a Richard Mille, multiple Patek Philippes, and Audemars Piguets, with a combined estimated value of $525,000 to $985,000.
Based on current market valuations, the collection displayed on this single Instagram account is worth between $525,000 and $985,000. That is hard to explain for a 25-year-old graduate student. It aligns with Vorapak’s own wealth disclosures, which listed a personal watch collection alongside assets totaling hundreds of millions of baht.
Faced with the evidence against him, Vorapak has chosen intimidation over explanation.
In November, he filed a criminal defamation lawsuit at Thonburi Criminal Court against Sarinee Achavanuntakul, one of Thailand’s most respected independent financial analysts. He is demanding 50 million baht ($1.4 million) in damages, claiming her writing destroyed his reputation and forced his resignation.
Sarinee responded on Facebook: “I will fight this case in court. But I hope that by the hearing date, we will have seen progress in the investigations by the SEC and AMLO.”
Vorapak has also threatened legal action against Whale Hunting.
These are Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation – SLAPP suits designed to silence critics, drain their resources, and freeze the Thai press. Prachatai, the Thai independent media outlet, has tagged the Sarinee case as a SLAPP.
But lawsuits cannot alter the metadata on a photograph. They cannot change the AIS tracking history of a superyacht. They cannot erase the stock ticker on a Gulfstream flight display.
The Wanderlust spent December 2025 through early February 2026 docked at Port Rashid in Dubai. In late February, it sailed for the Seychelles, carrying Mauerberger away from a Thai arrest warrant. It is currently moored in Port Victoria.
Meanwhile, Singapore police this month acted against the network, arresting two directors of Capital Asia Investments – the Mauerberger front company that financed Vorapak's acquisition of Finansia X – and seizing $125 million from CAI's bank and securities accounts.
One of CAI's major investments was in BCPG, a Thai renewable energy company – one of the many assets targeted by Mauerberger's network and its Thai enablers. Kanokporn Tanyawong held 15.5 million shares in BCPG, valued at about $2.8 million. But in recent months, with the spotlight on the family, Kanokporn transferred most of her stake to Kant – a clear attempt by the parents to distance themselves from the Mauerberger network.
Thailand has issued an Interpol Red Notice arrest warrant for Mauerberger, and seized almost $400 million in assets. But authorities have not yet frozen shares in either Finansia or BCPG, despite the overwhelming evidence of connection to the Mauerberger network. Too many powerful people, including Vorapak himself, are caught up in this major scandal.
Still, the net is tightening.
Maybe Vorapak Tanyawong did first meet Benjamin Mauerberger at the school gates. But what happened after that meeting was not casual, and it was not innocent. Vorapak helped Mauerberger illegally takeover a finance company. The family co-invested in multiple companies. His wife was paid a fortune in crypto. And his son flew on the network’s jets and vacationed on the network’s yachts.
The yacht is gone. But the photographs remain.
We have contacted Kant Tanyawong and will update this story with any reply.
If you have information about the Mauerberger network, Finansia X, or the officials who protected them, contact us securely at projectbrazen@protonmail.com. We protect our sources.
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