Phó Đức Nam at the investigative agency. — Photo cand.vn

HÀ NỘI — The Hà Nội People's Procuracy on Monday issued an indictment against Phó Đức Nam, also known as Mr Pips, 32, from Tam Thắng Ward, HCM City, charging him with fraudulent appropriation of property and money laundering.

Prosecutors identified Nam as the mastermind behind a criminal network involving 188 defendants, allegedly responsible for 919 fraud cases that defrauded victims of nearly VNĐ1.56 trillion (approximately US$59.5 million).

Lê Khắc Ngọ, alias Mr Hunter, 36, from Phú Diễn Ward, Hà Nội, and Nguyễn Thanh Phong, 36, from Bến Cầu Commune, in the southern province of Tây Ninh, who was serving as an officer with the Ministry of Public Security's Department of Cybersecurity and High-Tech Crime Prevention (B05) at the time of the offences, were also indicted on charges of 'fraudulent appropriation of property' and 'money laundering'.

Nguyễn Hòa Bình, widely known as Shark Bình, chairman of NextTech Group Joint Stock Company, 45, from Hà Đông Ward, Hà Nội; Phó Đức Thắng, 58, father of Nam, and four other defendants, Nguyễn Thanh Tâm, Trần Thị Thanh Tâm, Nguyễn Thị Nam and Lê Thị Liễu, were indicted on charges of money laundering.

Nguyễn Thị Thủy faces charges of money laundering and tax evasion. Phó Đức Tuấn was indicted for harbouring assets obtained through criminal activity.

The remaining defendants were charged with fraudulent appropriation of property.

919 alleged fraud cases

According to the indictment, Nam became acquainted with Turkish national Isik Uran, 42, in 2017.

The pair allegedly agreed to establish 36 websites linked to the MT4 and MT5 trading platforms, commonly used for foreign exchange and international securities trading.

The websites were given English names similar to those of legitimate international trading exchanges.

However, the prosecutors said the platforms had been pre-programmed and were never connected to genuine global financial markets.

Instead, investors were effectively trading against the platform operators, meaning any customer losses became profits for the administrators.

Nam allegedly instructed employees to persuade victims to open trading accounts, deposit funds and invest through the platforms before misappropriating their money.

Nam also directed staff to establish shell companies, which were then used to recruit employees, sign contracts for Zoiper telephone services, and open 66 bank accounts and payment intermediary accounts linked to the fraudulent trading platforms to receive victims' deposits.

He also rented offices in major localities, including Hà Nội, HCM City, Đà Nẵng City and the former province of Bình Dương, where staff were recruited into specialised departments operating as an integrated system to carry out the alleged fraud.

The procuracy concluded there was sufficient evidence to prosecute Nam as the ringleader of the scheme, holding him criminally responsible for all 919 fraud cases involving nearly VNĐ1.56 trillion.

To disguise the illicit origin of the proceeds and accumulate assets, Nam allegedly laundered more than VNĐ560 billion ($21.4 million) obtained from the fraud by spending VNĐ378 billion ($14.4 million) on 32 properties, VNĐ141 billion ($5.4 million) on gold, VNĐ41 billion to purchase about $1.72 million with the exchange rate at the time of purchase, and VNĐ1 billion ($38,000) to acquire SGD67,744.

The prosecutors said these transactions constituted the offence of money laundering.

Nguyễn Hòa Bình at the investigative agency. — Photo cand.vn

Expanded network

Regarding Lê Khắc Ngọ, the indictment states that in 2019 he and Nam agreed to expand the fraudulent forex and securities trading platform network across Việt Nam.

Nam allegedly placed Ngọ in charge of 20 offices responsible for recruiting and persuading victims to invest in the bogus trading schemes.

The investigators concluded there was sufficient evidence to identify Ngọ as an active accomplice who, together with Nam, played a leading role in organising the fraud.

The procuracy alleges that Ngọ bears criminal responsibility for 287 fraud cases involving losses of nearly VNĐ340 billion ($13 million).

To conceal the criminal proceeds, Ngọ allegedly used VNĐ195 billion ($7.4 million) derived from the offences to purchase four properties worth more than VNĐ7 billion ($267,000) and spent VNĐ188 billion ($7.2 million) on 143 gold bars.

The prosecutors concluded that these activities also constituted the offence of money laundering.

The indictment further alleges that Đinh Thị Dung and Nguyễn Đức Tuyến served as regional managers appointed by Nam and Ngọ to oversee the business operations of multiple offices.

The prosecutors said both defendants actively assisted the two ringleaders in carrying out the fraudulent appropriation scheme. — VNS