Claiming to know many powerful figures to scam people out of over 2 billion VND by promising to help them avoid legal consequences.
Hoang Hiep and his accomplices boasted about knowing "many powerful people" and claimed they could get reduced sentences for three members of Ms. L.'s family, thereby swindling her out of more than 2 billion VND.
On November 24th, the Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened a first-instance trial to hear the case against four defendants: Hoang Hiep (born in 1990), Pham Ngoc Minh (born in 1984), Pham Duy Vuong (born in 1983), and Vo Thanh Danh (born in 1976), all residing in Ho Chi Minh City, for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property"
According to the indictment, because they knew each other beforehand, when Hoang Hiep learned that Ms. Nguyen Thi L. (residing in Duc Chau commune, Nghe An province) was seeking someone to help reduce the sentences for her husband, younger brother, and older brother, who were being prosecuted for "Violating regulations on the protection of endangered and rare animals," he assured Ms. L. that he could help contact the relevant authorities. Hiep promised "to arrange for Ms. L.'s husband and younger brother to receive suspended sentences, and for her older brother to have his sentence reduced from Clause 3 to Clause 1."
Later, Hiep contacted Pham Ngoc Minh to ask for help in getting the case dismissed. Through Minh's introduction, Hiep and Ms. L. arranged to meet Pham Duy Vuong. Vuong promised to handle the matter and quoted a fee of 3 billion VND for "fixing the case."
From August 15, 2023 to January 26, 2024, Ms. L. transferred 2.33 billion VND to Hiep to handle business matters. Upon receiving the money, Hiep only transferred 1.42 billion VND to Vuong, keeping the rest for himself.
Seeing that the trial date was approaching and Vuong hadn't been able to help, Hiep contacted Pham Ngoc Minh again. Minh said he could handle it and told Hiep to get the money back from the other party. Afterward, Hiep asked Vuong to return the money, and Minh transferred 1 billion 50 million dong.
After receiving the money back, Hiep transferred nearly 300 million VND to Minh. Minh contacted Vo Thanh Danh to ask for his help in "fixing the case" and transferred 90 million VND.
However, after receiving the money, none of the individuals contacted the authorities handling Ms. L.'s family's case to request a reduced sentence; instead, they spent the money.
Subsequently, three of Ms. L.'s family members were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 6 to 7 years and 6 months. After the initial trial, Hiep reassured Ms. L. that "there will be an appeal" and advised her to guide her family members in filing an appeal. However, the appellate court later upheld the initial verdict against the defendants.
Realizing she had been deceived, on November 10, 2024, Ms. L. went to the Nghe An Police to report the fraudulent activities of the perpetrators.
At the trial, the defendants admitted to the crimes as charged in the indictment. They confessed to deceiving the victims by claiming to have connections with "many high-ranking officials" who could help secure reduced sentences for the victims' families. However, after receiving the money, the defendants spent it all on personal expenses.
After considering the role of each defendant in the case, the panel of judges sentenced Hoang Hiep to 14 years in prison and Pham Duy Vuong to 7 years and 6 months in prison.
Defendant Pham Ngoc Minh received a 3-year suspended sentence, and Vo Thanh Danh received a 2-year suspended sentence.
