Embezzling over 3,600 billion and profiting more than 700 billion from investors
On February 24, the Investigative Agency of the Ministry of Public Security issued a supplementary conclusion to the criminal case and transferred the entire case file to the Supreme People’s Procuracy (Department 5), proposing the prosecution of 51 defendants in the criminal case related to FLC Group Joint Stock Company for offenses of “stock market manipulation”, “asset embezzlement fraud”, “abusing positions and powers while performing official duties”, and “intentionally publishing false or concealing information in securities activities”.
Specifically, for the offense of “stock market manipulation”, the Investigative Agency of the Ministry of Public Security determined that from May 26, 2017, to January 10, 2022, Trinh Van Quyet (Chairman of FLC Group) directed Trinh Thi Minh Hue (Quyet’s younger sister) and accomplices to use the identities of employees, relatives, and friends to create documents and procedures for Hue to establish a company, open securities accounts, and bank accounts to manipulate the stock market for 5 stocks: AMD, HAI, GAB, FLC, ART.
When the stock prices increased, under Quyet’s instructions, Trinh Thi Minh Hue sold shares in the market, making illicit profits of over 723 billion VND.
As for the offense of “asset embezzlement fraud”, the investigation agency alleged that from 2014 to September 2016, Trinh Van Quyet directed individuals who were leaders and employees of Faros Company and companies under FLC Group, as well as relatives and friends as named shareholders, to carry out fraudulent acts by creating and falsifying shareholder contribution documents, falsely inflating the contributed capital to Faros Company from 1.5 billion VND to 4,300 billion VND.
Subsequently, the defendants prepared documents and requested relevant state management agencies to approve the registration of the public company, register the securities custody, and list 430 million shares formed from the inflated capital contribution of Faros Company with the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange.
When the shares of Faros Company were listed on the stock exchange, from September 2016 to March 2022 (before being indicted and detained), Trinh Van Quyet and his accomplices sold 391,155,480 shares formed from the inflated capital contribution held by Faros Company, earning over 4,818 billion VND. The investigation agency has determined that Quyet’s group embezzled over 3,620 billion VND from investors in the stock market.
Defendant Trinh Van Quyet.
3 persons from the State Securities Commission were indicted
Regarding the offense of “abusing positions and powers while performing official duties” and “intentionally publishing false or concealing information in securities activities”, during the investigation, in addition to individuals who aided Trinh Van Quyet in committing criminal acts, the Investigative Agency of the Ministry of Public Security also investigated and clarified the violations of individuals from state management agencies with the authority to approve the registration of public companies, securities custody, and stock listing.
The investigation agency has issued supplementary indictments, accusing defendants of the above violations.
Up to now, the Investigative Agency of the Ministry of Public Security has prosecuted 51 defendants, including: 21 defendants prosecuted for the offense of “stock market manipulation”; 31 defendants prosecuted for the offense of “asset embezzlement fraud”; 4 defendants from the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange prosecuted for the offense of “abusing positions and powers while performing official duties”; 3 defendants from the Supervision Department of Public Companies under the State Securities Commission, and the Vietnam Securities Depository Center prosecuted for the offense of “intentionally publishing false or concealing information in securities activities”.
Among the 51 defendants, 8 defendants have been prosecuted for both offenses of “stock market manipulation” and “asset embezzlement fraud”.
