Greg Brown, the American husband of the debt-skipping Harvard dentist, has told her four guarantors they can either work together — or take legal action and prolong the case.
Writing to a negotiator representing Dr Padej Poonwithayakij and the three other Thai guarantors who were left to deal with Dr Dolrudee Jumlongras’s THB30 million scholarship debt, Brown explained that his family simply could not meet the demanded 2.5-year-timeframe to pay them back as they had to cover mortgage and childcare expenses.
“A 2.5 year term is simply impossible.” Brown wrote in a letter dated Feb. 11, published by Matichon.
“The funds I receive from my salary after taxes and healthcare insurance… result in me receiving US$1,100 less than is required to pay the mortgage on our house — the house I purchased with no monetary contribution from Porsche [Dr Dolrudee].”
Prior to buying the house, Brown said he had also supported Dr Dolrudee during the three years she spent applying for valid immigration status in the US and had zero income.
Dr Dolrudee has no assets in the US and her entire current paycheck is devoted to their son’s day care, he said.
But the four guarantors seemed unconvinced by Brown’s excuses. They have had to take out loans totalling nearly THB8 million, after negotiating with Mahidol University in court to pay for Dolrudee’s debt without interest.
“He says he knows everything. He knows what taxes and expenses he has to pay. If you have debts, why buy a house?” Padej said about the letter to Matichon.
Brown’s response followed the proposal by the four guarantors who demanded the US$200,000 payment (THB7.1 million) from Dr Dolrudee within two and a half years, minus the US$50,000 (THB1.7 million) she already paid them earlier.
Brown also said that if the four guarantors filed a lawsuit, it would take longer for them to get their money back.
“Pursuing litigation simply means the co-signers [guarantors] won’t see anything until the case is completed….we’ll be forced to retain attorneys, reducing any money available and drawing out the case as long as possible.”
“They can work with us now, or they can pursue litigation and not see anything for probably 3-5 years.
“The only ones they are hurting are themselves, and any rational evaluation of the facts will result in the same analysis.”
As the scandal spread across the Thai community in America and the Facebook page CSI LA, Thai attorneys in Los Angeles and Boston said they were willing to seek justice for the four guarantors by helping them to file a lawsuit against Dr Dolrudee in the US.
Dr Padej posted a snapshot of the letter signed by four guarantors on Feb. 15 to authorize their lawyer in America to represent them in a lawsuit without the help of Mahidol University.
“It is time. With help from Thais in America, we’re not waiting for the governmental organizations because when the story goes quiet, so do they,” Dr Padej captioned the snapshot.
Commenting on the lawsuit, Dr Passiri Nisalak, Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry at Mahidol University, said the four guarantors had not come to the university directly regarding the lawsuit and had only talked to the press.
Dr Passiri said the university alone was not in a position to join the four guarantors in the lawsuit as the scholarship was granted by the Ministry of Finance and Office of the Higher Education Commission. Therefore the matter must be considered by both organizations, Matichon reported.
Related:
Dr Dolrudee only one out of 5,000 scholars to skip debt, says Ohec
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