BANGKOK – The legal quagmire that has engulfed what once was Thailand’s most successful fitness chain came to a satisfying conclusion today as the Central Criminal Court sentenced Eric Mark Levine, the chairman and majority shareholder of California Wow, to 10 years of continuous dance music.
The court, which endured almost seven months of testimony from over 3,400 witnesses and co-plaintiffs whose class-action case accused Levine of fraudulent business practices, breach of contract, and “crimes against humanity and good taste,” issued its 81-page judgment this morning. It found Levine, who owned over 70% of Californiawowx PCL directly and through nominees, guilty of 29 acts.
The verdict was met by cheers throughout the courtroom and the crowd of hundreds who had gathered on the courthouse steps.
Along with felony convictions for racketeering and fraud, Levine was also convicted of the more serious charges of torture, which carry up to a life sentence under Thai law. In its verdict, the court said that it had been “deeply moved” by the testimony of witnesses who documented and corroborated the “inhumane conditions” that were endured by customers of California Wow.
It was this testimony that spurred the court to sentence Levine to what the court called “a punishment that fits this horrible, unconscionable crime.”
Under the conditions of the sentence, Levine will be placed in a special wing of Bangkok Remand Prison where he will be forced to run on a treadmill from 6am-8pm daily, while being sonically assaulted by 500-watt speakers on either side of him which will play a continuous loop of high-energy techno and power-pop disco remixes at 98 decibels.
The former businessman will also be required to watch television while he runs, and wear headphones that play the TV audio signal even though he won’t be able to hear it over the music. Levine will be required to hear the music while sleeping, making his once-a-week phone call, and during visits from outsiders.
The sentence is for 10 years, which approximately matches the time that California Wow did business in Thailand, with Levine eligible for parole in six years. However, the negotiation for parole, as well as for any requests while in prison, will be handled by a series of aggressive prison administrators who will never explain clearly to Levine what he’s agreeing to while simultaneously demanding him to sign enigmatically-worded contracts that he cannot decipher. Every fourth piece of paper placed before him, possibly disguised as a written request for better prison conditions, will actually be a contract obliging Levine to a longer sentence.
Furthermore, the bathroom facilities that Levine will be using during his prison will be crowded with gay men fucking each other. Although they won’t actually touch Levine, they will constantly size him up with leering glances, and any bodily fluids from their non-stop sex will be left on the bathroom floor for Levine to walk through.
Lead prosecutor Winmorat Kulsawat hailed the verdict as a great victory for consumers. “Although the victims of California Wow’s reign of fitness terror can never fully recover their lost years and the cost of their suffering, it will give them some relief to know that the mad man who destroyed their hearing, their finances, and their faith is going to get a taste of his own tyranny.”
Levine is also being fined ฿600 million, which will go to victim restitution and the creation of a memorial at the site of the Silom branch of California Wow, where some of the most egregious of Levine’s crimes too place.
The memorial will feature a bronze statue of a person wearing exercise clothing, kneeling before a broken Stairmaster, covering his ears with his hands while screaming.
