Seen Bao Trinh (left) and his accomplices in a real estate scam in front of a court in HCMC, December 29, 2023. Photo by VnExpress/Hai Duyen
A Vietnamese-American real estate agent has been sentenced to life in prison for falsifying documents to sell nearly 80 apartments and embezzling VND309 billion ($12.7 million) from 50 victims.
A HCMC court convicted Vu Bao Trinh, 50, owner of Nam Thi Real Estate Co. Ltd, for “fraudulent appropriation of assets.”
Van Chi Tam, the company’s president, was sentenced to 17 years in prison and Hoang Thai Anh, another accomplice, to 16 years.
According to the panel of judges, Trinh ordered Tam and Anh to commit the fraud and personally benefited from the VND309 billion they stole from 50 people, and is therefore responsible for reimbursing the victims.
Nam Thi Company, developer of La Bonita office and apartment building on Nguyen Gia Tri Street in Binh Thanh district of HCMC, had mortgaged it to Rubber Finance Company to obtain a loan of VND95 billion .
Under the terms of the agreement, Trinh’s company was not allowed to sell an apartment during the mortgage period without the consent of Rubber Finance.
But Trinh asked Tam and Anh to sell apartments in La Bonita. They even sold the same apartment to several buyers.
A total of 88 organizations and individuals purchased 118 apartments for VND485 billion and the company received VND423 billion.
During the investigation, only 50 people and organizations accused Trinh and his accomplices of defrauding them and the amount mentioned amounted to 332 billion VND.
Trinh returned VND23 billion and misappropriated more than VND309 billion, the amount on which the verdict was based.
