Tan Hoang Minh chairman receives 8-year prison sentence for $349M fraud

His son and CEO of the company Do Hoang Viet received a three-year sentence for the same crime, fraudulent appropriation of assets, the People's Court of Hanoi announced Wednesday afternoon.

It said that Dung was the mastermind who initiated the scheme from the beginning and gave directions on how to spend the money appropriated from the victims.

Viet was a major accomplice but was sincere in admitting his crime and followed his father’s orders without fail, the court said.

Tan Hoang MInh CEO Do Hoang Viet seen at the People's Court of Hanoi on March 27, 2024. Photo by VnExpress/Ngoc Thanh

Tan Hoang Minh operated as a family company. All nine employees who were tried along with Dung and Viet had no real power and only followed their orders.

The company started to see financial difficulties in early 2022, which urged Dung and Viet to find ways to mobilize cash.

Viet proposed a plan, which Dung approved, to issue bonds through subsidiaries of Tan Hoang Minh.

Viet ordered his subordinates to make changes to the financial reports of three subsidiaries so they were eligible for issuing bonds. Viet also approved fake projects to gain investors’ trust.

These three subsidiaries issued 90 million bonds worth VND10 trillion, which were then bought by Tan Hoang Minh on paper even though it had never paid in full for them.

Tan Hoang Minh then sold the bonds to retail investors to raise VND14 trillion in cash.

It used around VND5 trillion to pay interest and appropriated the remaining VND8.6 trillion.

During the investigation the company had submitted the appropriated money in full to the police.

All defendants admitted their crime to the court and said that they never intended to defraud investors and only wanted to resolve the challenges Tan Hoang Minh faced.

The subordinates of Dung and Viet said they only followed order and did not gain personally from the scheme.

Over 6,600 investors were defrauded. They were defrauded between VND100 million and VND20 billion.

They said they bought the bonds because they trusted the reputation of Tan Hoang Minh.

Prosecutors said that the bonds were issued illegally and therefore investors could not receive interest from them, but they can be compensated for their investment.

Dung’s lawyers argued that Tan Hoang Minh had "made great efforts" in submitting VND8.6 trillion to the police, which is the biggest compensation ever recorded on trials of fraudulent appropriation of assets.

In his last words at court Dung said what happened was "painful" and that he felt deep remorse for it.

He thanked and apologized to investors and said he hoped to be able to return to doing business soon.