FLC chairman Trinh Van Quyet sentenced to 21 years in prison

The court ruled that he and his accomplices caused losses of VND4.3 trillion (US$171 million) to investors. As the mastermind behind the scheme and the primary beneficiary of the illicit funds, Quyet received the harshest sentence among the 50 defendants.

The court identified more than 25,800 investors as victims who purchased shares in FLC Faros Construction. Prosecutors stated that Quyet orchestrated a scheme to falsely inflate Faros' capital to VND4.3 trillion from the actual VND1.5 billion to facilitate its listing on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE).

Despite being unable to verify the company’s claimed VND4.3 trillion in capital, HoSE executives approved the listing, leading investors to purchase 391 million shares.

Quyet, 49, was also accused of directing his sister, Trinh Thi Minh Hue, an accountant at property developer FLC, to open 500 stock accounts under the names of 45 associates, which were used to trade the stocks of FLC and its four subsidiaries back and forth. Hue was sentenced to 14 years in prison.

His other sister, Trinh Thi Thuy Nga, the deputy CEO of BOS Securities, was also implicated in the scheme and received an 8-year prison sentence.

Huong Tran Kieu Dung, the standing deputy chairwoman of FLC, was sentenced to 8 years and 6 months in prison.

During their final statements in court, Quyet and his sisters expressed remorse, apologizing to the other defendants, who were family members, for involving them in legal issues and exploiting their trust.

Quyet described the crimes as a haunting lesson, admitting that in pursuing overly ambitious goals, he lost sight of legal boundaries.