BANGKOK — Hopes and dreams will be on the line at the Miss Universe pageant on Saturday — not only for the 90 women competing for the crown, but also for the organization’s embattled owner, Thai media mogul Anne Jakkaphong Jakrajutatip.
Underneath the glitz and glamour of the pageant in El Salvador lies a hole of 7 billion baht ($197 million) in Anne Jakkaphong’s company, JKN Global Group. Just a week before the event, the company filed for bankruptcy protection in Thailand after missing a payment on a debenture tranche on Sept. 1, triggering cross-defaults on six others.
