Published on
An American former business leader has been detained in Myanmar, days after a US trade organisation revealed it had uncovered suspicious financial dealings linked to former members of its board.
Adam Castillo, the founder of security and risk management firm AGS Myanmar and a former US Marine officer, was detained on Thursday at Yangon International Airport upon returning to the country, according to an associate who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing safety concerns. He had served as president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Myanmar — known as AmCham — between 2023 and 2025.
The detention follows disclosures in AmCham’s annual report, published on 29 May, that the organisation’s current board had uncovered what it described as suspect transactions carried out by “former board representatives.” The board commissioned a law firm to investigate.
Among the findings was that a former board member had, in November 2024, personally signed a contract with a Washington-based public relations firm — a deal that resulted in $300,000 being paid to him through channels entirely separate from AmCham’s own accounts. “The signature exceeded the signing limits of individual board representatives, the board never approved the agreement,” the report stated. “AMCHAM Myanmar received no funds, made no payments, and received no services, and the matter was not disclosed to the statutory auditors.”
The report refers to “two former members of the board” in connection with the case but names neither individual. The organisation’s executive director, Myat Phyu The, declined to elaborate when contacted, but directed enquiries to the annual report, saying it “covers the issue at hand.” A further statement posted to the chamber’s website on 12 June confirmed the board “has taken appropriate steps to safeguard the interests of the organisation and its members.”
Myanmar’s military government has not issued any official statement on the matter, in keeping with the junta’s customary silence toward international media. Regional government offices and Yangon police did not respond to requests for comment. Pro-military outlets including NP News reported that Castillo had been arrested after AmCham filed a complaint against him. The US State Department said it was “aware of reports that an American has been detained in Myanmar” but declined to say more, citing privacy considerations.
AGS Myanmar, the security firm Castillo founded, confirmed only that the situation was “an ongoing matter.” Castillo himself did not respond to an email sent through his personal website.
Before flying back to Yangon, Castillo had been in Kuala Lumpur, where posts on his Instagram account show him attending a business forum the day before his detention. He had also been promoting a recently published memoir, Finding Our Voice, which recounts his years in Myanmar through the military takeover and its aftermath. Whether the book played any part in his detention is not known.
In addition to security services, AGS Myanmar’s website lists commercial cleaning and pest control among its offerings. Castillo’s biography on the site describes him as a former Marine who served in Afghanistan, and as chair of “Republican Overseas Myanmar,” an organisation established in 2024 to promote, in its own words, “America First policies in Myanmar and across the region.”
Myanmar has been in crisis since the military ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government in February 2021. The violent suppression of the protests that followed gave rise to an armed resistance movement drawing together pro-democracy fighters and ethnic minority militias, and the country has remained in the grip of civil war since. The period has also brought a sharp rise in the detention of foreign nationals, including journalists attempting to cover the conflict.