By scamming customers out of over 3.5 billion VND in car deposits, the director defrauded them.
The director promised to buy, sell, and register vehicles, but instead defrauded customers of over 3.5 billion VND in vehicles and vehicle deposits.
On the afternoon of December 27th, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court sentenced Vo Minh Trong (born in 1983, residing in Can Tho, Director of Phu Trong Automobile Trading and Service Company Limited) to 13 years in prison for "fraudulent appropriation of property". He was also ordered to pay over 3 billion VND in compensation to the victims, including businesses and individuals.
According to the indictment, from July 27, 2017 to August 30, 2017, the District 12 Police received numerous complaints from citizens and companies alleging that Vo Minh Trong, Director of Phu Trong Automobile Trading and Service Company Limited (hereinafter referred to as Phu Trong Company), had committed fraud by misappropriating multiple automobiles and deposit money for the purchase of automobiles. This was done by using the legal entity of Phu Trong Company to sign sales contracts and service agreements, promising to buy and sell vehicles and to handle the procedures for registering vehicle registration certificates.
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Defendant Vo Minh Trong in court. |
Accordingly, in 2016, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Planning and Investment issued a business registration certificate to Phu Trong Company, with Vo Minh Trong as the Director and legal representative, headquartered in District 12, Ho Chi Minh City, with the business activity being the buying and selling of various types of trucks.
From July 2016 to July 2017, Trong and his company's main business was receiving consigned vehicles from owners to display at the company's headquarters for resale, or purchasing vehicles from manufacturers for display. When customers contacted them to place a deposit, Trong would contact the car manufacturer to order the vehicle for the customer. During this period, the company was not profitable, and Trong himself had outstanding debts that were due for repayment. Therefore, Trong resorted to embezzling money from customers through various means, such as: acting as the legal representative of Phu Trong Company to sign car sales contracts with eight individuals, and then misappropriating the deposits after receiving them.
In reality, Trong didn't order the cars from anywhere, so when the deadline arrived and he didn't have the cars to deliver to customers, he cited various reasons to avoid refunding the money or delivering the cars. If he did manage to do so, he would pawn the cars or sell them to someone else...
The total amount of money Vo Minh Trong embezzled from 4 companies and 8 individuals is over 3.5 billion VND.