CEO who scammed 700 people into buying virtual gold sentenced to life in prison

The court determined that 700 Vietnamese people were tricked by a foreigner into investing in an illegal gold trading floor opened at Khai Thai company.

After five days of opening the first instance trial, on the afternoon of December 15, the Hanoi People's Court sentenced seven defendants in the Fraudulent Appropriation of Property case. The mastermind of the case was Hsu Ming Jung (also known as Saga, former general director of Khai Thai Company).

Defendants in court. Photo: Bao Ha.

Hsung Ming Jung was sentenced to life in prison for fraud. The verdict showed that only Nguyen Manh Linh admitted to the entire crime. The other five only admitted to "some degree" of guilt. Many victims did not admit to being victims. The defendants' defense attorneys requested to return the case files and reinvestigate because they believed that their clients did not commit the crime as charged in the indictment.

However, the panel of judges held that the investment trust business was not included in the business registration of Khai Thai. Apart from trading virtual gold, Khai Thai Company had no other business activities. The actions of Hsu Ming Jung and the defendants constituted the crime of Fraudulent appropriation of property; dangerous to society, infringing on citizens' property.

Hsu Ming Jung was identified as playing the main role, directing subordinates to use many forms of false advertising, training consultants on gold account trading (virtual gold) even though they knew this form of business was prohibited by Vietnamese law. Promising to connect Vietnamese people who wanted to make a profit from virtual gold with the world market, but in reality, Khai Thai company collected money from one person and paid another, making customers believe that they were trading virtual gold.

From the end of 2012 to the end of 2014, Khai Thai collected more than 500 billion VND from nearly 1,600 individuals across Vietnam. By the time the trial took place, Khai Thai Company had paid more than 18 billion VND in interest to customers, and had appropriated nearly 270 billion VND.

The court found that the other six defendants, branch directors and chief accountants of Khai Thai Company, played an active role in assisting Hsu Ming Jung in mobilizing deposits. The defendants all knew the nature of Khai Thai's activities, but the high salaries and bonuses motivated the defendants to assist Hsu Ming Jung in appropriating customers' money.

However, the defendants were only employees, and the embezzled money was entirely used by Hsu Ming Jung. The defendants also returned a portion of the embezzled money. Therefore, for these six people, the court sentenced Phan Kien Trung to 20 years, Trinh Hoang Binh to 4 years, Nguyen Manh Linh to 20 years, Doan Thi Luyen to 15 years, Tang Hai Nam to 14 years and 6 months, and Dinh Thi Hong Vinh to 14 years in prison for the crime of Fraudulent Appropriation of Property.

The court ordered Hsu Ming Jung to compensate the victims for the amount of money he had misappropriated. The remaining defendants were ordered to pay back the money they helped Saga misappropriate. The money collected from the defendants will be paid to the victims according to their capital contributions.

According to the People's Court, in addition to the seven defendants being tried, 18 other people who are business managers of Khai Thai Company will be separated and dealt with later.

According to VNE