Hollywood fantasist?

Ridiculed for months in the Thai-language press over his claim to have a starring role in a Hollywood film, former singer Nathan Oman remains unreachable but has finally had one of his stories backed up. He was accused of refusing to pay back a loan of nearly Bt100,000, but the sister of the lender stepped up to defend him on Sunday.

Accused of stealing

Earlier, Chalong Channak had alleged that Nathan borrowed the money from her granddaughter Saowanee Ritthichote, who died in March after an illness. Nathan's manager held a press conference on Saturday proclaiming the former singer's innocence and Nathan phoned in to say he would hold another press conference regarding Saowanee yesterday. It never took place.

Defence case

However, Saowanee's younger sister Theeraporn Ritthichote told the "Reaunglao Sao-Athit" programme on Sunday that Nathan had already repaid the debt by instalment and, in contradiction to press reports, had also sent a wreath to Saowanee's funeral. She also said that Nathan had kept in touch with her and her mother.

Bruce Willis's co-star?

Nathan has been in the media spotlight since October 2008 after claiming he had landed a starring role alongside Bruce Willis and Christina Ricci in 20th Century Fox's "The Prince of Red Shoe", to be directed by Wolfgang Peterson. When contacted, 20th Century Fox had never heard of Nathan. The media began digging into his background, including claims that he was of mixed Thai-Nepalese descent.

Then this July, his business partner in the Jamaree Yak Cafe Gallery filed a police compliant, accusing Nathan of embezzling the money marked for rent. Nathan produced a credit-card slip that he said proved his innocence and threatened to counter-sue.

He also insisted that he had been on location in the Middle East for the Hollywood film but declined to show his passport or comment on accusations he had lied about his age and other details.

Earlier this month, Nathan's long-term housekeeper Saman Sukserm accused him of defaulting on a Bt300,000 loan he took to fund a tourism operation in Nepal. Nathan and a woman claiming to be his step-mother denied the allegation during a phone-in to TV show "Reung Den Yen Nee".