HÀ NỘI — Seven members of multi-level marketing firm Liên Kết Việt have been indicted by Hà Nội police for alleged fraudulent appropriation of assets.

Investigations into the case were completed yesterday.  

Management board chairman Lê Xuân Giang, 46, general director Lê Văn Tú, 32, and deputy general director Nguyễn Thị Thủy, 47, are among the accused.

The remaining four accused are members of the business development team, including Trịnh Xuân Sáng, 42, Lê Thành Sơn, 29, Nguyễn Xuân Trường, 50, and Vũ Thị Hồng Dung, 42.

The seven were arrested in February 2016, accused of swindling some 67,000 people and appropriating a total VNĐ2 trillion (US$88.2 million).

Investigations show that Lê Xuân Giang paid investors a total of VNĐ1 trillion ($44 million), of which VNĐ870 billion ($38 million) was paid as commissions.  

The remaining money was divided among the seven accused. Giang kept VNĐ871 billion ($38 million), Thủy kept VNĐ36 billion ($1.6 million), Tú kept VNĐ62 billion ($2.7 million).

The remaining four accused received some VNĐ4-16 billion ($176,000-706,000) each.

About 9,000 clients of the firm in 49 provinces were interviewed during investigations, the police said.

Most of the clients said they were tricked into believing that Liên Kết Việt and the BQP Medical Equipment Group Joint Stock Company – founded by Giang– were under the management of the Ministry of National Defence, and that Giang was a colonel in the army, the police added.

Liên Kết Việt was established in 2010 and obtained a multi-level marketing licence from the Ministry of Industry and Trade in 2014. It focused on marketing and trading products under a pyramid scheme.

From March 2014 to November 2015, with a variety of tricks which included forging a fake Certificate of Merit from the Prime Minister, the firm opened 34 branches and representative offices in 27 provinces and cities, recruiting thousands of clients, investors and sellers. — VNS