Judge and Chairman of the trial Vu Quang Huy announced the verdict for the defendants. Photo: Pham Kien/VNA
Accordingly, defendant Trinh Van Quyet (born in 1975, former Chairman of the Board of Directors of FLC Group, Chairman of Tre Viet Aviation Joint Stock Company) was sentenced by the Court to 18 years in prison for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property", 3 years m in prison for the crime of "Stock market manipulation", the total sentence for defendant Quyet is 21 years in prison.
Also prosecuted for these two crimes, 7 other defendants including: Trinh Thi Minh Hue (born in 1981, General Accountant of FLC Group; sister of defendant Trinh Van Quyet) was sentenced to 14 years in prison. Trinh Thi Thuy Nga (born in 1979, General Accountant of FLC Group; member of the Board of Directors and Deputy General Director of BOS Securities Joint Stock Company - the predecessor of FLC Securities Joint Stock Company; sister of defendant Trinh Van Quyet) was sentenced to 8 years in prison. Huong Tran Kieu Dung (born in 1978, Permanent Vice President of FLC Group, Chairman of the Board of Directors of BOS Company) was sentenced to 8 years and 6 months in prison. Trinh Van Dai (born in 1966, Deputy General Director of FLC Faros Construction Joint Stock Company - Faros Company) was sentenced to 11 years in prison. Nguyen Van Manh (born in 1977, Head of Landscape Materials Group, Purchasing and Supply Department, FLC Land One Member Limited Liability Company - FLC Land Company) 6 years in prison. Trinh Tuan (born in 1984, former Director of FLC Land One Member Limited Liability Company - FLC Land Company) 4 years and 6 months in prison. Nguyen Thi Hong Dung (born in 1972, residing in Dich Vong Hau Ward, Cau Giay District, Hanoi) 4 years in prison.
Defendant Trinh Van Quyet (former Chairman of the Board of Directors of FLC Group, Chairman of Tre Viet Aviation Joint Stock Company) was sentenced to 21 years in prison by the Court. Photo: Pham Kien/VNA
The court sentenced the remaining 42 defendants in the case to sentences ranging from 15 months in prison, suspended, to 7 years and 6 months in prison, for the crimes of: Fraudulent appropriation of property; Manipulating the stock market; Abusing position and power while performing official duties; Intentionally disclosing false information or concealing information in securities activities.
In this case, there is also defendant Doan Van Phuong (former General Director of FLC Group, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Faros Construction Joint Stock Company) who is currently on the run and wanted by the investigation agency.
The first instance judgment determined that in this case, the defendants took advantage of the activities of the stock market to commit crimes, causing loss of confidence in society, affecting the confidence and interests of investors. Among the defendants, Trinh Van Quyet was the mastermind, directly directing, the other defendants were accomplices who assisted defendant Quyet. The behavior of the previous defendant was the premise for the later defendants to commit crimes. Therefore, it is necessary to strictly handle the defendants with penalties commensurate with the nature and severity of the crimes.
The Trial Panel determined that during the trial, the defendants’ testimonies were consistent with the documents and evidence in the file, consistent with the victims’ testimonies… affirming that the Supreme People’s Procuracy’s prosecution of the defendants for the above crimes was completely justified. The Court also determined that the number of victims in the case after reviewing the list and background was more than 25,000 people. These were people who bought shares of Faros Company (stock code ROS) for the first time, and were given false information by Trinh Van Quyet and other defendants to defraud and appropriate property.
Inflating capital contribution from 1.5 billion VND to 4,300 billion VND
The defendants listen to the court's verdict. Photo: Pham Kien/VNA
The first instance judgment stated that, with the purpose of appropriating investors' money for his own purposes, Trinh Van Quyet used Faros Company as a tool, directing Doan Van Phuong and Trinh Thi Minh Hue to fraudulently increase the owner's equity at Faros Company from VND1.5 billion to VND4,300 billion, then completing the procedures to list shares corresponding to the value of Faros Company's fictitious equity on the stock exchange. Quyet used the HOSE floor as a tool and means to sell shares, appropriating investors' money. To appropriate the money, Trinh Van Quyet assigned Doan Van Phuong and Trinh Thi Minh Hue to directly direct and manage all activities to legalize the documents for increasing the fictitious capital, and at the same time asked a number of individuals to stand in as shareholders to receive the transfer of shares of Faros Company, to sign the procedures for increasing the fictitious capital contribution and legalizing the use of the fictitious capital contribution, and to record this false information in the Audited Financial Report and Prospectus to complete the documents for listing ROS shares on the stock exchange.
The defendants from the State Securities Commission's Department of Public Company Supervision, Vietnam Securities Depository, and Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HOSE) used false information in the audited financial statements and documents provided by Faros Company to approve the public company, register securities, and list 430 million ROS shares on the HOSE.
The Trial Panel emphasized: With the above motives, purposes, and tricks, Trinh Van Quyet used the HOSE floor as a means to sell 391,155,480 shares formed from inflated capital contributions to more than 25,000 investors on the stock exchange, appropriating more than VND 3,621 billion. To cause the above consequences, there was active participation and assistance from the defendants in the case in the process of inflated capital contributions, investment entrustment, investment entrustment acceptance, legalization of cash flow from inflated capital contributions; identification of inflated capital contributions; approval of stock listing... to facilitate Trinh Van Quyet to sell shares formed from inflated owner capital contributions, appropriating money from investors on the stock exchange.
Creating artificial supply and demand, manipulating the stock market
Court scene. Photo: Pham Kien/VNA
The first instance verdict stated that, with the purpose of making illegal profits on the stock market through listed stocks of companies in FLC Group, Trinh Van Quyet directed Trinh Thi Minh Hue to borrow personal documents of 45 individuals who are relatives and employees of FLC Group to establish and register 20 businesses and open 500 securities accounts in the names of individuals and legal entities. At the same time, he directed to provide fake money to accounts to perform acts of stock market manipulation for 5 stock codes AMD, HAI, GAB, FLC, ART such as: Continuously buying and selling the same type of securities, buying and selling within the group (not leading to actual transfer of ownership), buying and selling in large volumes, dominating the market at opening and closing times, placing buy/sell orders and then canceling orders... in order to create fake supply and demand, manipulating the stock market for the above 5 stock codes, illegally profiting more than 723 billion VND.
In particular, AMD stock code alone manipulated the market from May 26, 2017 to July 13, 2017, illegally profiting 39 billion VND, before the Penal Code 2015 took effect, the Investigation Agency requested the State Securities Commission to handle according to regulations. Article 29 of Decree 108/2013/ND-CP dated September 23, 2013, stipulating administrative sanctions for violations in the field of securities and the securities market, applies remedial measures, requiring Trinh Van Quyet and Trinh Thi Minh Hue to return the illegal profits gained from committing the violation. Therefore, Trinh Van Quyet and his accomplices are only criminally responsible for the illegal profits of the 4 stock codes HAI, GAB, ART and FLC, amounting to more than 684 billion VND.
According to the Trial Panel, in order for Trinh Van Quyet, Trinh Thi Minh Hue, and Trinh Thi Thuy Nga to manipulate the stock market and illegally profit over VND684 billion, there was active participation and assistance from other defendants in the FLC Group in signing resolutions and directing accounts managed by Trinh Thi Minh Hue to use them to buy securities without collateral (illegally granting money). Some defendants also lent Trinh Thi Minh Hue personal documents to establish companies and open securities accounts to manipulate the stock market, helping Trinh Van Quyet illegally profit on the stock exchange.
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