Zhang Lei, 38, along with seven others, was arrested by HCMC police on Saturday to be investigated for procuring prostitutes.
Police seized around VND22 billion ($906,470) at his residence, which he said was the revenue of his restaurant, located in District 5, over several months.
A local tipoff revealed that his Fortune restaurant on Tran Hung Dao Street had signs of prostitution. Around 200 waitresses work at the facility to serve customers, both for meals and karaoke sessions.
Zhang said only foreigners, such as Chinese, Malaysians and Taiwanese, are served. Hundreds of customers are welcomed at the restaurant every day, with most male customers offered prostitution services at a nearby hotel for VND5-10 million.
At the end of December, dozens of police officers raided the restaurant and certain hotels in the district, where they caught five female employees red-handed offering prostitution services to customers.
Documents signaled that starting from February, Zheng's restaurant has illegally gained VND44 billion from prostitution services.