Chamoy Thipyaso

In 1989, Chamoy Thipyaso was given the world's longest sentence for corporate fraud according to Guinness World Records. In the late 1960s, Thipyaso started a chit fund called the Mae Chamoy Fund (Mae being the Thai word for Mother), which was made to look like an oil share with high returns. Due to Thipyaso's connections with the Air Force and Petroleum Authority, the fund was able to sustain itself for a remarkably long time. Connections to the military was a huge factor into one's political and business power, and so by appearing to have the military's backing this scheme seemed more legitimate to people.

She defrauded more than 16,000 people of $204 million. She was sentenced to 141,078 years in prison. However, the Thai law of the time specified that those convicted of fraud could not serve more than twenty years in prison, and she was released after only eight.