Hanoi: A Vietnamese luxury asset tycoon has been sentenced to 8 years in prison, state media reported on Wednesday, after being accused of deceiving thousands of people in a $355 million bond scam.
This is the latest case in a wide-ranging anti-corruption probe among high-profile business executives that has rocked the communist country.
More than 4,000 individuals, attachés, and senior executives at BusinessArray have been charged in more than 2,000 cases since 2021.
The Hanoi People’s Court sentenced Do Anh Dung, director of the Tan Hoang Minh group, which specializes in luxury offices and apartments, to 8 years in prison for fraud, according to the Tuoi Tre news site.
Dung’s son, Do Hoang Viet, was also sentenced to three years in prison, while thirteen other defendants were sentenced to up to two and a half years in prison.
Dung and his co-defendants were accused of illegally obtaining $355 million in a bond sale to 6,630 investors.
“The jury found that the defendants’ crimes were particularly serious and infringed on the property rights of others,” according to Tuoi Tre’s report.
According to previous state media, in January 2022, the Tan Hoang Minh Group was suffering from debts of around $810 million due to stalled projects and the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The defendants sold bonds to raise capital, promising investors high returns, but embezzled the $355 million raised, state media reported.
State media reported that Dung and his son had already repaid the $355 million.
The verdict is the largest fraud case ever recorded in the country. Truong My Lan, chairwoman of the Van Thinh Phat asset progression group, along with 85 defendants, is recently on trial in Ho Chi Minh City, accused of embezzlement of $12. 5 billion.
Vietnamese prosecutors have called for her to be sentenced to death and for the trial to end by the end of April.
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