The Curious Case of Robert Schmalohr
On Sunday evening, 11 Feb, a new user signed up to www.khmer440.com to post the following: “On Friday, Feb 9 Infamous con man and owner of Valentinos, an unsuccessful gay nightclub in Phnom Pehn, Robert Schmalohr was arrested by Khmer police on fraud charges stemming from his native Germany. He was also under investigation by a well known NGO dealing in child trafficking.”
On 20 Feb, the Phnom Penh Post published:
“A prominent German businessman has been deported from Cambodia and subsequently taken into custody in Germany on suspicion of fraud in a scheme allegedly involving some €1.2 million (almost $1.5 million).
Robert Schmalohr, who headed an investment company in Cambodia to set up a string of businesses dominating Street 174, or “Sabay Sabay” street, was deported on February 15, according to Uk Hai Sela, the head of investigations at the Ministry of Interior’s Immigration Department.
Hai Sela said he had no knowledge of the allegations, only that Schmalohr’s passport had expired and he was arrested by authorities for overstaying his visa.” (However, it should be noted that: “Due to an editing error, a previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Robert Schmalohr had been charged in Germany in connection with a purported pyramid scheme. In fact, he was not charged, but has been taken into custody and is a suspect in the fraud case.”)
The allegations are for an alleged pyramid scheme are related with the German company eVision.
In light of all of this, over the past several weeks there have been lively discussions on the forum (here) about what has transpired, and Khmer440 received an anonymous email this week. We would like to stress that we do not know how much of the following is true or not, or the source, but thought that it painted an interesting picture and could add to the discussion:
Summary of the Tangled Web of PEEG.
By: Anonymous
Firstly, about Robert himself. Big loud rich arrogant and abrasive German, but respected his staff and seemed to genuinely want to make a positive impact here. Painfully naive. All of the charges related to kids were 100% bullshit. They were filed in the German embassy in Thailand but the embassy in Cambodia and the German authorities didn’t know about it. Even the arrest report and all “official” documentation were not being given.
It is believed he was set up. Too many, way too convenient things occurred. Being told not to bring his body guards with him on the trip he got arrested on. The German embassy in Cambodia not knowing anything about it. No khmer media being aware of the story.
It was likely his lawyers and/or the tangled web of people he got himself wrapped up in. He got wrapped up in every single cliche that foreigners get stuck in here (paying people, funding orphanages, surrounding himself with opportunistic people, disbarred proven scammers as his lawyer). It is like a high end version of the guys who arrive in Cambodia with a bit of money and get convinced to invest in amazing new ideas by guys in Sorya Mall. So when he stopped paying and funding the web, suddenly he was arrested. Once his company was signed to somebody they approved of/could control (Rothanak Sovan), the charges disappeared. I do not know the details of the paperwork on the transfers but I just knew they were changing people and it was the Phnom Penh post article (which is by far the best researched piece about the whole thing), where they said the name of the new Director, that showed me who it was.
It was possible for his companies to be taken control of because he was convinced that all the companies should be registered with a “trust” in New Zealand. Recommended by and created by known con artist Shaan Stevens. The trust was put in the name of Francis Ganderton, a friend of Shaan’s who he brought from New Zealand and another guy, named Matte John Birchler. They convinced him that the Cambodians are notorious for seizing assets (a lie) so if he registers it with the Trust, it is protected………ironically
It all seems very similar to Shaan’s past MO where another millionaire got locked up: https://www.nbr.co.nz/article/
It should also be noted that he was disbarred from being a lawyer due to this case so is not legally allowed to practice law. Here are a list of news articles: https://www.nbr.co.nz/tags/
Incorporation details of the Trust with Francis name on it. I do not know who the khmer name on this one is: https://opencorporates.com/
And another similar one in Shaan’s name, which also includes the khmer lawyer: https://opencorporates.com/
A list of many companies Shaan has had registered over the years and similar patterns start to occur and similar names appear: https://opencorporates.com/
Website of Matte Bircher: http://www.matteb.net
Guiness Gallagher Advisory limited, the supposed law firm is also an interesting thing when it is dug into and now out of all this that happened, are magically opening a branch here now, in one of the ill gotten properties they obtained from this PEEG fiasco. I believe that is this incorporation: https://opencorporates.com/
Made on December 1st.
They are currently reaching out to companies in Cambodia and even some of the chambers of commerce to convince them to put their assets in a trust in New Zealand………So This scam seems to be aimed to be far reaching.
Website of GG international: http://gg-int.com/about.html
In the end, Robert was stupidly naive.
There was some very high Cambodians in the mix but I am not sure how high the web went and what their involvement was but for the sake of everybody , whether they were involved or not, it is better to keep their names from being mentioned.
Robert went back to Germany himself willingly, because he didn’t feel safe in Cambodia. To answer a bench warrant in Germany for failure to appear for questioning in relation to a potential ponzi scheme. I don’t know much about the details of the case in Germany or his business there, but he felt better to go there than stay in Cambodia.
The trust, getting involved in the orphanage funding, being introduced to high up Cambodians, being told to pay money to get a Cambodian passport and favour with the “elite” here was all recommended by Shaan Stevens.
The Companies PEEG currently own:
Great Papaya
GameStation Social Lounge
Toolbox Bar
Unicorn Bar
Q Bar
Valentino’s Pizzeria
Generations Sports Bar
Valentino’s Club and Lounge
Valentino’s Suites Hotel
Richly Boutique Hotel
The Happy Damrei
Riverhouse Asian Bistro and Lounge
Sousday Cambodia
Mailboxx
KPR – KAMPUCHEA PARTY REPUBLIC
In addition, Roberts inner circle was:
Dwight Hayden
Shaan Stevens
Francis Ganderton
Trevor Piper
Suon Virakpanha (his khmer lawyer)
When it all happened, Dwight Hayden was moved out of the company completely and a more easily controllable fall guy was put as director (Rothanak Sovan, A manager of a cafe). While Shaan, Francis and Panha really took control of everything. Trevor Piper ran away.
As with everything, I always see the ones that gained the most from things like this to be the most suspicious. Sit in Happy Damrei any day and you will see this collection of characters there all day long.
The con artist got played at his own game
This is an obvious bluff article written to defer any involvement by many individuals. Blatantly removing aliases Dilly Da Don and Brendan Gallagher. Two of his right hand men that were gifted a brand new Porsche and Audi for their help. Not to mention plenty of cash to clean Roberts name in Cambodia. They, “Anonymous” aka Brendan is doing his best to clean up his involvement as he is plastered all over the forums and has even been bragging for months about his involvement and management statuses with the companies. The writer shouldn’t be so naive to believe such things, they are all criminals. Even posting this “Anonymous” information should be held with a grain of salt as they cant even put their names to it. What a joke. Should hope that Shaan Stevens finds out about this and comes after all those involved in this forum, and Brendan for trying to frame him while these “anonymous” cunts have been running around. Think highly about whom you trust, these are the wrong people and they are feeding you a BS story, thats why they don’t want to be attached to it. Two German police arrived and personally took Robert to Germany and that is why the detention had taken so long here in Cambodia. Not to mention articles published in Germany, written in German specifically saying what his warrant of arrest is, and you can still sign up for the class action lawsuit against him at this very moment. They are all scammers, and more importantly, Brendan and Dilly were directly involved in all of these companies as management/ the E-Vision scam and conference supposed to take place later this year.
P.S. Go check out Brendan and Dilly’s house they got this week at $5000+ a month… Funny to think about where all that money went eh? Cant tell me my private investigator is wrong on that one. I am sure you can ask them yourself about where they currently reside. It’s hard for a couple “unemployed” guys to afford such luxuries.
…But if he was arrested, how could he have left “willingly”?
Just how common is it that the authorities come and arrest you for having a passport that has expired?
Not very.
This article was written by Brendan Gallagher in attempt to shift blame onto others. Robert is a career criminal and Brendan was his apprentice in this dirty web of crime.
Brendan Gallagher and Dwight Hayden are still active and looking to commit more fraudulent acts. Beware
Robert Schmalohr has rented a villa in Chiang Mai, converted into an office, with all the luxury possible. When the first signs came from Germany and fearing that the Thai police would find him, he fled to Cambodia. He didn’t pay his wages to his Thai workers and foreigners, he didn’t pay the rent on the villa. Robert Schmalohr has a history of constant scam. I’ve known him since the time he was ripping people off with the European King Club.