Latvian usury mastermind jailed in HCMC

By Hai Duyen   December 17, 2024 | 04:30 am PT
Latvian usury mastermind jailed in HCMC
Aigars Plivěs and his accomplices stand before the HCMC People's Court, December 2024. Photo by VnExpress/Bich Ha
A Latvian man in HCMC was sentenced to two years in nine months in prison for running three usury companies with interests up to 1,379.7% a year, gaining over VND4.15 trillion ($163.21 million) in the process.

Aigars Plivěs, 39, was declared guilty of usury in civil transactions by the HCMC People’s Court on Monday. Aigars was an employee of the Sun Finance company based in Latvia.

His accomplices: Nguyen Thi Tuyet Suong, 56, director of the Digital Credit company; Truong Tuan Tai, 33, director of the Fincap Vietnam company; and 10 others also received jail sentences for the same charge.

In 2018, under Sun Finance’s instruction, Aigars came to Vietnam to operate usury activities through three companies: Sofi Solutions, Digital Credit and Fincap Vietnam. All these companies’ registered capitals were foreign.

Aigars operated all three companies and directly instructed his subordinates. Customers only need to enter their personal details, including phone numbers and ID photos, as well as the amount of money they want to borrow. An automatic system will handle their requests, and customers will not need to be in direct contact with any employee of the companies.

Authorities found that the companies had disbursed over VND6 trillion in loans from April 2019. The lowest interest was at 401.5% a year, and the highest 1,379.7% a year. The firms had illegally gained over VND4.15 trillion as a result.

Aigars said he began operating the usury activities from June 2020 to April 2023 for VND120 million a month, allowing him to illegally gain VND4.2 billion.

 
 
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