“Former Chairman of Tri Viet Securities Fined $86,956.”

The court decided against imposing prison sentences on the defendants, instead opting for monetary fines.

Pham Thanh Tung was fined 2 billion VND, while his subordinates, Do Thi Hong Hanh and Nguyen Manh Thin, were fined 500 million VND each.

According to the indictment, the Vietnam Asset Management Group Joint Stock Company (with the stock code TVC and listed on HNX) and Tri Viet Securities Joint Stock Company (with the stock code TVB and listed on HOSE) were involved in this case.

In 2020, to improve the liquidity of TVB and TVC, Pham Thanh Tung instructed Hanh and Thin to manipulate these two stock codes by guiding employees of TVB and TVC to open multiple securities accounts under the names of their relatives, friends, and associates. Subsequently, they transferred the account information and passwords to the company’s investment department for management.

With a multitude of accounts at their disposal, Mr. Tung directed Nguyen Manh Thin to continuously place orders and match them with TVB and TVC.

Additionally, Thin and Hanh were tasked with placing buy and sell orders for the Tri Viet internal group’s agreed-upon trades. Every day, when matched orders occurred, Thin would inform the list and the amount of money to be deposited/transferred to each securities account within the group as directed by Tung. He would then request the account holders to make the necessary deposits, withdrawals, or transfers.

The source of funds for these stock purchases and sales was directed by Mr. Tung, who instructed employees to obtain funds from Tri Viet Asset Management Company, borrow from margin loans at other securities companies, and use revolving funds transferred between securities and bank accounts of individuals within the Tri Viet internal group.

Following Mr. Tung’s instructions, Thin directly deposited, withdrew, and transferred money from his bank account in Ho Chi Minh City. Meanwhile, in Hanoi, Hanh directed the capital room and TVB investment room employees to withdraw money from the company’s bank account and the personal accounts of the Tri Viet internal group members. They then deposited the funds into the designated securities accounts.

According to the prosecution, from January 2, 2020, to October 19, 2020, Pham Thanh Tung directed Thin and Hanh to manipulate the securities market by using 109 internal group accounts of 58 account holders to trade in a cross-matching manner with TVB and TVC stock codes. Tung’s actions resulted in losses for 31 investors, totaling 3,308,359,500 VND.

During the investigation, Mr. Tung and his two subordinates admitted to their crimes. Notably, in May 2023, Pham Thanh Tung, the former chairman of Tri Viet Securities Company, was sentenced to three years in prison, suspended, for his involvement in a separate securities manipulation case involving Louis Holdings, where Do Thanh Nhan was the mastermind.