Singer's assets frozen in fraud investigation

The frozen assets had been acquired since July 2, 2019.

The company in question is Ho Chi Minh City-based Nhat Nam Khang Investment, which lists Phuong as a legal representative.

The Hanoi police last month called on authorities across the country to freeze the assets of the group of people and company to investigate complaints of fraud by property company Nhat Nam.

Vu Thi Thuy, Phuong’s wife, allegedly tricked 10,000 people to misappropriate trillions of dong (VND1 trillion = US$41 million), according to the police.

Phuong, 42, founded boyband MP5 in the early 2000s. When the group broke up in 2006 he embarked on a solo career.

At the end of last year he became a shareholder of construction firm Song Da 1.01 by acquiring a 45% stake.

Between October and December last year he repeatedly bought and sold shares of Saigon Jewelry Company. But for carrying out transactions worth more than 1% of SJC’s shares without disclosing them to authorities, he was fined VND245 million.