"Unraveling the Enigma: Four Disturbing Questions Surrounding the Asos Tycoon’s Mysterious Death"

WHEN the news broke that British retail tycoon Quentin Griffiths had died in an apparent suicide in Thailand, those who knew him were baffled that he would take his own life.

He had been involved in a series of bitter legal battles but still had everything to live for, with a and a beautiful young girlfriend.

Quentin’s tragic death in February is still a mystery Credit: Times Newspapers Ltd The towering Elysium complex in Pattaya, from where Quentin plunged 17 storeys to his death Credit: Supplied

insisted his fall from the 17th floor of an 18-storey building in was suicide, saying no one else could have been in the apartment before his death because it was double-locked from the inside.

But troubling questions remained, not least when The Sun revealed last month that nearly $4million had disappeared from Quentin’s crypto wallet in the days after the tragedy.

Now, as his funeral finally takes place back in the UK, a fresh Sun investigation reveals that the ­circumstances surrounding his death are murkier than ever.

Our probe has uncovered how:

• TWO mystery men allegedly gained access to his villa the day after his death to rifle through his paperwork, shortly before the crypto currency was stolen. A police report talks about the “behaviour and actions of individuals who may be involved in Quentin’s death”.
• INVESTORS in an AI start-up he launched — backed by the adult entertainment industry — were sitting on hundreds of millions of pounds in losses — it had been worth half a ­billion pounds but was down to just £50million when he died.
• THAI police did not perform DNA or fingerprint tests on glasses and bottles inside his penthouse to check if anyone else had been in there.
• AND they now admit that his “double-locked” apartment door could be opened from the outside.

moved to after he quit in 2005 as marketing director of , the online retailer he co-founded five years earlier which went on to become a global giant worth more than £4billion.

With his first marriage back in England falling apart, the then father-of-three fell for a Thai woman, Ploy , after they met by chance in a Bangkok park in 2007.

Ploy, 43 — then a university ­marketing student — said it was love at first sight. They went on to have a Buddhist marriage ceremony and had a son and a daughter, now aged 13 and 12, respectively.

But Ploy says he would leave her to care for their children at their villa in Pattaya while he would go out “partying with friends and girls”.

The couple split, triggering a court battle that saw him win custody of the children in 2023, with Ploy awarded visiting rights.

was hugely wealthy thanks to his shares in Asos and he invested in a series of start-ups, although he never managed to repeat the success of the online retailer.

In 2024, together with two fellow entrepreneurs, he launched AI Companions .

The firm, which had a crypto ­currency called AIC linked to it, would allow people to create a digital friend, using the to pay for outfits, hairstyles and personality traits.

The is a booming industry which analysts reckon will be worth $500billion within a decade.

Enthusiasts use their companions for emotional support and to combat loneliness but also for online sexual ­interaction.

Quentin with Ploy, who he met in 2007 Credit: Collect / The Sun Beautician Jom Thipanongsri, 26 Credit: Asia Pacific Press via ViralPress

Griffiths’s firm — backed by experts in the adult industry — said it would harness virtual reality and to guarantee “emotionally engaging experiences” to enhance “user satisfaction”.

The value of the AIC crypto rocketed as online excitement built around the firm, sending it to a high of 58p a coin at one stage, meaning the company was worth about £500million.

That made Griffiths and his fellow company bosses hugely wealthy on paper.

But with no product launch in sight, the price began to tumble and by the time he died in February, the firm was valued at £50million, a 90 per cent drop.

It has fallen even further since and is now worth just over £20million.

One angry investor posted online: “It’s ridiculous that the price is back to square one. I’m tired of losing money for so long.”

Another said: “AIC has become just another all-hype, no-results project.”

Despite the drop, Quentin was still wealthy as he and the rest of the core business team had retained 30 per cent of the one billion coins which had been created.

But when his eldest son Joel, 29, arrived in Thailand to deal with the fall-out from his dad’s death he was shocked to discover that £2.5million worth of AIC tokens had vanished from .

And he was even more concerned when he found out that shortly before the theft, two men had allegedly entered his dad’s villa at a golf resort in Pattaya and rifled through his possessions.

He reported the matter to police at .

The police report states: “Joel learned that a third party had been inside the house and Quentin’s ­bedroom to search through his ­personal property. Joel knew that apart from Quentin’s lawsuits with his ex-wife Ploy, he also had issues regarding a private business in which he invested with a third party.”

The report ends by saying it “serves as evidence to show the behaviour and actions of individuals who may be involved in Quentin’s death.”

Officers have confirmed to The Sun that the two men have still not been traced.

While the police in Bangkok were investigating the crypto theft, officers in Pattaya, led by police lieutenant Phupha Hongyakun, were looking into Quentin’s sudden death.

They quickly concluded it was , saying the door to his penthouse apartment on the 17th floor was ­double-locked from the inside and CCTV showed no one else ­entering after he arrived at 12.38pm.

Security footage shows Quentin, carrying a briefcase, taking a lift to his apartment at the Elysium Residences.

The hundreds of dusty footprints on his balcony — where a chair had been pulled close to the waist-high glass wall — were left only by him, ­according to Lt Hongyakun.

But despite initial claims that the door was locked in a way that it could only be opened from inside, Lt Hongyakun has now admitted to The Sun that the first officers on the scene did not kick it down.

Instead it was opened from the outside by a caretaker using a master key.

Also, the did not bother doing any tests on two opened bottles of wine, a bottle of water and a glass found in the apartment to see if anyone else’s or fingerprints were present — or if any foreign substance had been mixed in with the alcohol.

A family friend said: “There have been many questions about this from day one and the more we get to know, the more we don’t know.

“What the police have said about the CCTV and the way the door was locked does make it sound as if he could be the only person in there.

“But they don’t appear to have done every test possible to be absolutely sure of that.”

Despite the question marks, Lt Hongyakun insisted: “We can confirm there was no one else inside the room.

Quentin takes the lift to his Thai penthouse Credit: Asia Pacific Press Despite the question marks, Lt Hongyakun insisted: ‘We can confirm there was no one else inside the room’ Credit: Asia Pacific Press

“The timeline shows that after he entered the room, nobody else came out. The door was locked from the inside, and after the incident the police were the first people to enter the room. When we arrived, we did not break down the door.

“The door had a double lock, meaning a keycard alone could not open it. The condominium management brought a key and unlocked it for us so we could enter.

“We did not test the DNA on the glass or take fingerprints from it, but the evidence from the CCTV, together with the detailed post-mortem examination, showed he had alcohol in his blood, there were no signs of physical assault, and the cause of death was severe trauma from falling from a very high floor. The clear ­evidence pointed to ­suicide.”

But Lt Hongyakun did concede: “Both the ­condominium management and the resident witnesses said he was a cheerful, smiling person.       

“They were also confused as to why he would take his own life.”

Quentin had been facing jail after being convicted of fraudulently removing nail salon boss Ploy as a director of a firm they used to buy the family home and later selling the property to a Chinese businessman.

The sale was ruled unlawful and Quentin faced having to repay £1.4million.

But despite those issues, he had custody of his and Ploy’s two children, was a multi-millionaire, owned a number of swish properties around Pattaya and spent his days playing tennis at the resort’s poshest club and enjoying dates with his 26-year-old girlfriend, beautician Jom Thipanongsri.

A family friend said: ‘What the police have said about the CCTV and the way the door was locked does make it sound as if he could be the only person in there’ Credit: Times Newspapers Ltd He is thought to have fallen from this outside area Credit: Asia Pacific Press via ViralPress

Close family and friends, still ­baffled as to why Quentin would take his own life, will gather today to pay their last respects.

His family have not released details of the service and when Joel applied to a Thai court for permission to take Quentin’s youngest two children to the UK for the ­service he did not produce any ­documents showing funeral details.

He had hoped to fly home with them last Friday and had promised to return them tomorrow, so it is thought the funeral is today.

But when the judge pushed Joel to provide further details he failed to do so, meaning the application to take the kids to England failed.

The family have not spoken publicly and Joel’s lawyer declined to comment to The Sun about the case.

Quentin’s funeral, like so many of the details surrounding his death, remains shrouded in secrecy.