Bangkok Sleaze

Life is never easy, or so they say. I have been living in Thailand

for many years now working exclusively within the
entertainment industry and I have to agree with them, whoever
‘they’ are, life is definitely not easy. The entertainment industry
is tough enough in Thailand even without the additional
problems posed by the occasional coup d’etat, certain
unscrupulous business practices and without doubt the most
unnecessary of all, plain old 100% unadulterated fraud.

Todays posting relates specifically to the latter, 100%

unadulterated fraud. There are many players some are Thai
(you know who you are!) and some are foreign nationals. Today
we will be concentrating on those pesky foreign fiends in the
hope that at least one or two of you reading this expose, will not
be taken in by these vermin. We are a group of like minded
professionals who have come together with the sole purpose of
exposing these unsavory individuals and their sordid scams in
more detail.

At the top of this list is Ric Lawes (Richard Onslow Lawes) of

Location Thailand who has managed to cause havoc on
numerous productions and failed on more than one occasion to
live up to his financial promises and obligations. He has a nasty
and somewhat childish habit of blaming others for his failures
when that blame should lay directly at his feet.

Many industry professionals have suffered greatly by their

association with Mr Lawes, not only had they not been paid (or
repaid) but they have had to endure slanderous accusations
clearly manufactured to destroy their reputation for
professionalism and honesty in an effort to cover Mr Lawes
numerous inadequacies. For example in November 2005 Mr
Lawes was trying to produce a feature film project Shadow
Island. He gave his assurance that an Australian investment
group had agreed to fund the project and persuaded the
Executive Producer Steven Rouse to fund the pre production
costs with a contracted guarantee that he would be immediately
repaid as soon as the funds were transferred from Australia and
the shooting had begun. (We have seen the contract between Mr
Lawes and Mr Rouse and it clearly states this arrangement in
the terms of the agreement)

It transpires that the Australian investment group had only

expressed a mild interest in evaluating the project in more detail
once the funds had become available to them. They had never
agreed to commit to financing the project and it was one of
several options they were likely to consider. Mr Lawes then
conducted a game of cat and mouse, actually more a game of
cat and mice, firstly by trying to persuade the Australian backers
to commit their anticipated funds because the pre production
phase was nearly complete and Mr Rouse wanted to exercise his
rights for repayment under the terms of his contract with Mr
Lawes. And secondly implying to Mr Rouse that the project
should go ahead as the funds would be in place in Australia in
the next week or so, a classic case I am sure you agree.

The Epilogue: After several months Shadow Island principle

photography was complete and it became apparent that there
were not enough funds to pay the crew, talent, technicians or
suppliers who had contributed in good faith to the project. The
principle photography was co funded by Exec Producer Mr Rouse
to the tune of approximately 6 Million Bhat and by the co
producers FM films who picked up a significant portion of the
outstanding debt and had also committed several Million Bhat to
the ongoing costs in anticipation of the arrival of the core
funding from Australia. With no hope of ever seeing the funds
the post production of Shadow Island has been postponed and it
is unlikely that Mr Rouse, FM Films or any other creditors to the
project will ever see their money again.

So what of Mr Lawes take on events, it is his view that the

Australian investment group had lied to him and that they
withdrew their financial support without foundation, and
secondly, the project would have been successful if Mr Rouse
and FM Films had not withdrawn their support for the project at
the eleventh hour. As a discerning individual we will leave it with
you to decide who bears the responsibility for the collapse of
this production. In order to assist you in making a more
informed decision here are a few FACTS that you may find quite
persuasive regarding Mr Lawes honesty and integrity.

Mr Lawes is insistent that he has at least 25 years experience in

the movie industry and his CV boasts of a PHD and a degree in
Business. As you will see this is not entirely the case and we
have received evidence that Mr Lawes is not quite sure himself,
as the following extracts from several CV’s and his IMDB.com
profile from the internet will prove. The CV’s have been passed
to us by interested parties in Australia and contain several
paragraphs in which he boasts of his financial acumen and that
he has been a key player in the floatation of several companies
on the NASDAQ exchange. This simply is not true there is no
record that we can find of any of the companies actually
achieving a listing.

CV1

2000-2001 Honorary MBA for services rendered Caledonia

University
2003 Ph D dissertation in Motion Picture Lighting.

CV2

2001 – PhD in Motion Picture Production, Northampton

University, Ireland.
2000 - MBA (Hons) – Northampton University, G.P.A. 3.55

Now his imdb.com Resume

Caledonia University, EU/Malaysia, MBA, 2002

Honorary Degree with Credits for services rendered to
Northampton University as Director General for Asia Pacific

Caledonia University, EU/Malaysia, PhD, 2005

Dissertation in Motion Picture Lighting from (unpublished) book -
"An Introduction To Lighting In Australia" (1989-1996)

As responsible citizens we did some background checks and

contacted the Northampton University to enquire about the
legitimacy of Mr Lawes status within the university as the
Director General for Asia Pacific and the response was, and we
quote:

“The University does not have such a position”

Some years ago Mr Lawes was promoting a new company

BLACK OPAL CAPITAL PTY LTD, ACN (Australian Company
Number): 69290642 (a renamed previously registered entity) as
an organisation that would be capable of arranging finance for
productions up to several million dollars by attracting investors
from all over the world with the following unique proposal for
film financing. Mr Lawes operated from the following addresses:

Location Thailand Co Ltd

Suite B2 Level 16
GMM Grammy Place
50 Sukhumvit Soi 21 (Asoke Road)
North Klongtoey, Wattana
Bangkok 10110
Thailand

Black Opal Capital Pty Ltd

St. Anne's House,
Diadem Court, London W1D 3EE
United Kingdom
+44 709 236 7853

This happens to be the UK business address of De Warrenne

Pictures, a production company run by Mr Tom Waller. One can
only hope Mr Waller was aware of this apparent association and
that he has extricated himself cleanly from any dealings he may
have had with Mr Lawes. www.blackopalcap.com

(Please note this website is now unavailable, but Mr Lawes has

saved the information that it contained on a number of other
websites, which we have downloaded)

Together with his partner (in crime?) Chris Bracey Gibbons (an
investment boiler room operator) they attempted to raise the
capital. Of course this avenue proved spectacularly unsuccessful
considering the level of expertise in business management that
Mr Lawes professes to have gained throughout his illustrious
career.

The following is an accurate extract of the web presentation.

THE PLAYERS

The Business Strategic Alliance between Mr Christopher Bracey-

Gibbon & Dr Richard Lawes came about on meeting in Thailand.
Mr Bracey-Gibbon had a company Patrician Enterprise Limited
introducing business contacts and Dr Lawes had just finished
publishing the Motion Picture Production Directory for Thailand.
They are now in the throes of publishing the Location Thailand
‘Business Network Directory’ (for 2004) of some 10,000 pages
for Businessmen needing information and contacts throughout
Thailand.

Mr Christopher Bracey-Gibbon is the principal and President of

Black Opal Capital Pty Ltd. Canadian by birth, he is a former
securities dealer and stockbroker (16 years) and has huge
database globally of people unhappy with simply ‘parking’ their
money in institutions. Apart from Canada, he has lived in the
United Kingdom, United States and now Thailand to take
advantage of the economic growth cycle being experienced. He
is presently working from offices in Canada and Thailand to
establish the revolving film fund. Thailand is an emerging
economy and recognised as a safe environment for filmmakers
as opposed to other Asian countries.

OUR UNIQUE FORMULA

Black Opal Capital Pty Ltd is an Australian registered company

with representative offices in Thailand and Canada offering Joint
Venture participation for venture capitalists wishing to lend
funds for the production of motion pictures by way of a revolving
film fund. Capital acquired is placed in escrow accounts until
fully subscribed. Depending on the option requested, funds are
then directed to either an Investment Bank or the Production
Company (Queens land Film Studios Pty Limited).
Capital Guaranteed Funds will go to an Investment Bank and
converted to a Financial Instrument. Capital will not be at risk,
depleted or utilised in the production of the film. This option
does not allow profit share in the films.
The Fund Manager under the Capital Guaranteed Option takes
the risk and funds the projects.
Equity Loans (direct finance) will be transferred to the
Production Company. As the financier, the lender becomes the
first priority in payback and no profits are split until the lender is
fully paid out.
Both options selected are covered contractually.
This is not qualifying under Australian Taxation Law Section
10BA for tax deductibility capital input.
Sounds good doesn’t it, for a company with AUS6.00 paid up
capital!

It has subsequently come to our attention that Mr Lawes has

also tried his hand in the production of ‘Adult Entertainment’
productions and we have been reliably informed that Mr Lawes
has stuck firmly to his production principles, and failed to fulfill
his financial obligations once again.

Finally something that we believe shows Mr Lawes true colours,

his current role as a proverbial snake oil tradesman in the
promotion of a pseudo medical product called Oxyrich.

Oxyrich is a product from Australia, Mr Lawes and his wife are

the ‘official’ representatives of this product and are responsible
for its promotion in Thailand as a cure all. This product has
subsequently been rated as one of the Top 10 most useless
products on a leading TV expose show in Australia in 2006,
more information on the product can be found via a quick search
of the internet along with some damming reports from medical
practitioners and association about the legitimacy of the claims
of the curative properties of Oxyrich and other similar products.
Here is a link to get you started;

Science Blogs

Not much in it’s self perhaps but, in an email Mr Lawes sent to

Friends and business associates regarding the remission and
recovery of his wife who had suffered with stage 3 cervical
cancer. Mr Lawes suggests that one of the significant factors in
his wife’s new found health was and we quote…..

“I put this down to the following reasons (sic) Diatonic Stabilized

Oxygen”

You guessed it Oxyrich!

We wonder why Mr Lawes has not included his medical degree

on his many and varied CV’s along with the details of his
forthcoming Nobel Prize for services to mankind in the
eradication of cancer.

We will keep you posted

There is so much more...from our searches in Australia.

The Editor