HANOI: Nguyen Ngoc Thuy, known as Shark Thuy, chairman and general director of Egroup and Egame, was prosecuted for charges of “fraudulent appropriation of property” and “giving bribes”.
The Supreme People’s Procuracy has issued an indictment against Thuy and 28 other defendants over an alleged fraud involving more than VND8.4 trillion (US$321 million) from more than 10,000 victims.
The 28 defendants include Tong Thi Kim Lien, chairwoman and finance director of Nhat Tran Company who has been indicted on a charge of “receiving bribes” and accountants and business managers at Egame, who face charges of “fraudulent appropriation of property”.
According to the indictment, from 2014, Thuy directed employees to inflate Egroup’s charter capital to raise money to repay debts, fund personal spending and maintain the operations of the Egroup ecosystem.
He subsequently arranged the fictitious transfer of shares to investors.
Acting on Thuy’s instructions, Nguyen Manh Phu, Egroup’s finance director, and Pham Thi Thanh Thọ, its chief accountant, inflated the company’s charter capital and shareholdings from VND32 billion to VND962.5 billion (US$1.2-37 million).
The defendants also fabricated revenue figures equivalent to about 70 per cent of annual revenue to portray the company as a large-scale business.
After attracting investors, Thuy personally arranged to sell them shares at VND38,000 (US$1.5) apiece.
He also pledged to buy the shares back after one year at VND42,000 (US$1.6) each, in exchange for investors authorising him to exercise all their shareholder rights and obligations.
However, between 2021 and 2023, English-language centres and preschools in the group’s ecosystem closed, while incoming funds became insufficient to cover operating expenses and payments due under investment contracts.
In response, Thủy instructed 23 managers and team leaders overseeing 341 sales employees to use 70 per cent of funds raised from new customers to repay existing customers with outstanding balances, while transferring the remaining 30 per cent to the company.
From 2015 to 2023, Thuy and his accomplices allegedly misappropriated nearly VND8.5 trillion (US$330 million) from 10,123 victims.
The entire cash flow was tracked separately and was not recorded in financial statements or tax reports submitted to the authorities.
Egroup and Egame are now financially unbalanced and no longer able to repay investors, according to the indictment.
Investigators identified Thuy as the mastermind who directed the criminal activities and used the misappropriated funds, making him principally responsible for the case.
Earlier, in early August 2026, the Supreme People’s Procuracy announced that it had returned the case file to the Ministry of Public Security’s Investigation Police Agency for further investigation to clarify several outstanding issues. - Vietnam News/ANN
