Nguyễn Hoà Bình at the investigation Police Agency in Hà Nội. VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — The Investigation Police Agency of Hà Nội Police on Tuesday launched legal proceedings against Nguyễn Hòa Bình, known as Shark Bình, and nine other individuals on charges of 'fraudulent appropriation of assets' and 'violation of accounting regulations causing serious consequences.'

According to the police, Bình and the other defendants agreed to contribute capital to invest in the cryptocurrency project Antex with a total investment of VNĐ5 billion (US$189,000), of which Bình contributed VNĐ2 billion ($76,000).

Bình directed the establishment of Việt Nam Blockchain Technology Services JSC as the legal entity. The initial investment was transferred to the company’s account to maintain operations for the Antex project, including paying staff and developers and purchasing servers to provide Internet services.

During project development, the defendants met to announce the project’s policies, planning to issue a total of 100 billion Antex tokens to the market.

From August to November 2021, they issued and sold 33.2 billion Antex tokens to about 30,000 investors via online exchanges, collecting 4.5 million USDT (equivalent to about $4.5 million or VNĐ117 billion).

Investigators determined that from November to December 2021, Bình used his public reputation to post on social media about launching the 'Next100 Blockchain' investment fund, pledging to invest $50 million over ten years into blockchain projects to promote Antex and reassure investors.

Despite the project not following its stated roadmap, Bình and other shareholders of Nexttech Group allegedly agreed to withdraw funds from the project’s main wallet, transfer them to individual e-wallets, convert the cryptocurrency to cash, and divide the proceeds among themselves.

They also transferred investor funds to other companies within the Nexttech ecosystem for unauthorised use.

To date, Bình and his co-founders have withdrawn money from 30,000 investor wallets, appropriating an especially large sum.

Hà Nội Police have temporarily seized and frozen assets, securities accounts and bank accounts belonging to the defendants worth about VNĐ900 billion ($34.1 million), including 597 taels of gold, a large amount of US dollars, 18 land use right certificates, two cars, and numerous documents, accounting books and electronic devices.

The defendants have so far returned VNĐ3.45 billion ($130,000) to mitigate damages.

Further investigation revealed that in 2022, Bình directed the establishment of Nextland Real Estate Business JSC, appointing Đoàn Văn Tuấn and Nguyễn Hà Thủy as successive directors and legal representatives, and assigning Nguyễn Thị Thanh Hương, Trần Thị Thúy Vân, Nguyễn Hà Thủy and Đoàn Văn Tuấn to manage two separate accounting systems to track the company’s finances.

Bình also instructed staff to reduce profits and conceal revenues by lowering prices stated on sales contracts with customers while recording actual figures in internal books, causing significant losses to the State Budget. — VNS