Seiden Law LLP, chief global counsel to Cambodian businessman Yim Leak, announced today that Jared Genser, international counsel to Mr. Yim and his wife, has asked two UN Special Rapporteurs to send an urgent appeal to the Thai government. The request is made on behalf of the couple and their seven-year-old son. It says Thailand violated its international human rights commitments by announcing the family’s guilt before any court had tried them, and by freezing their assets, including their minor son’s savings, without a hearing.

Six Official Statements in Nine Months. No Charge Filed in Any Court.

Between December 2025 and September 2026, Thai officials described Mr. Yim as the center of a criminal network on six occasions: at two press conferences chaired by the head of the Thai government, in the House of Representatives, and in three government press releases. The head of the Thai government said the network had been “found to have committed” offenses. Asked about the suspects’ lawyers, he said that “however skilled the lawyer, if you have clearly broken the law like this and caused trouble to the people, there is no way to win over the wrongdoing your own client committed.”

No charge has been filed against Mr. Yim or his wife in any court concerning these allegations. No court has tried either of them.

Frozen Without a Hearing. The Evidence Will Not Be Tested Until 2027.

The assets frozen in the case, which the government now counts at more than 20 billion baht (more than USD 600 million), include the family’s. The family’s assets were frozen without notice or a hearing. The order, with the family’s names, reached the press before it reached the family. The court kept them frozen after hearing only the prosecutor’s witness, with the family absent, and will begin hearing the evidence in February 2027, more than 14 months after the freeze.

The government’s own records, cited in the appeal, undercut what was announced. Minutes of the committee that ordered the freeze record a member saying, the day before the police declared the evidence “clear,” that the connection to Mr. Yim “may therefore not yet be clear.” The committee froze about USD 277 million that same day.

A Six-Year-Old Warned of Up to a Year in Prison. His Savings Frozen.

The freeze reached a savings account in the name of the couple’s son, who was six years old at the time. When the family asked for the account to be released, the only ground officials gave for refusing was that the money had come from his parents. In January 2026, the Anti-Money Laundering Office wrote to the six-year-old personally, summoning him to give a statement as a witness and warning that failure to comply could be punished by up to one year in prison.

“This appeal is not about guilt. It is about whether the rules every government has promised to follow were followed,” said Jared Genser. “When officials declare a family guilty from the media podium, freeze their assets, and send a prison warning to a six-year-old, the presumption of innocence and the protection of children are not being applied. Thailand made these commitments voluntarily, and we are asking it to answer for them.”

“The key facts in this record come from the Thai government’s own officials and files, not from us,” said Lanny J. Davis, former White House Special Counsel to the President. “This is a trial by press conference. A freeze of more than 20 billion baht, with a child’s savings caught up in it, deserves a public answer. Asking a government to answer for treaties it signed is not interference, it is how those treaties work. No country is above the law.”

Thailand Committed to These Standards in 1996 and 1992.

Thailand acceded to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 1996 and to the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1992, and its own constitution protects the presumption of innocence. Special Rapporteurs routinely send communications of this kind to governments, and the government is invited to reply. The Special Rapporteurs will decide whether to transmit the appeal. The appeal does not question Thailand’s right to fight online fraud, a goal Mr. Yim shares.

The Ask: Stop Declaring Guilt. Grant a Hearing. Release a Child’s Savings.

The appeal asks the Special Rapporteurs to call on Thailand to ensure its officials stop presenting the family as guilty of offenses no court has tried, to give them the reasons for decisions on their applications and a chance to be heard, and to assess their son’s position and release his savings.

The petition can be found here: https://perseus-strategies.com/wp-content/uploads/Yim_Urgent_Appeal_UN_SRs_2026-10-08_with_Annex_3.pdf

About Seiden Law LLP:

Seiden Law LLP is chief global counsel to Cambodian businessman Yim Leak. Founded by Robert Seiden, the firm has represented a broad range of high-profile domestic and international clients across corporate, litigation, and reputational matters, including prior work for the Trump Organization. https://seidenlaw.com

About Jared Genser:

Genser is Managing Director of Perseus Strategies, an international law firm. Over more than two decades, he has served as pro bono counsel to five Nobel Peace Prize laureates. The New York Times has referred to him as “The Extractor” for his work freeing political prisoners worldwide. https://perseus-strategies.com/

About Lanny Davis:

Davis is a former Special Counsel to President Bill Clinton, a privacy and civil liberties panel advisor to Republican President George W. Bush, an author, and a TV commentator on CNN and other media. https://www.lannyjdavis.com

Special note: if you wish to interview Mr. Davis, your email must include your return email address that includes the name of your news organization. Personal interviews may be granted and will be based entirely on the urgent appeal submitted to the UN Special Rapporteurs.

Media gallery

About The Author
Business Wire