The Hanoi Department of Public Security announced on October 14 that its Investigation Police Agency had initiated legal proceedings against Nguyen Hoa Binh (also known as Shark Binh), Chairman of the Board of NextTech Group, and nine other individuals on charges of “Fraud and appropriation of property” and “Violation of accounting regulations causing serious consequences.”
According to the agency, Binh and the other suspects agreed to contribute a total of VND5 billion (US$190,000) to invest in the Antex digital currency project, of which Binh contributed VND2 billion. Binh then directed the establishment of a legal entity—Blockchain Vietnam Technology Services Joint Stock Company. The initial investment capital was transferred to the company’s account to fund the operation of the Antex digital currency project, including paying salaries for employees and technical staff and purchasing servers to provide online services for the project.
During the project development process, the suspects held meetings to announce policies for the development of digital currency projects. They planned to sell a total of 100 billion “Antex digital coins” (referred to as 100 billion tokens) to the market. From August to November 2021, they issued and sold 33.2 billion “Antex digital coins” (tokens) to around 30,000 investors on various trading platforms, collecting USDT4.5 million (equivalent to US$4.5 million, or approximately VND117 billion) into e-wallets on these exchanges.
From November to December 2021, Binh used his reputation and personal influence to post information on social media about the launch of the “Next100 Blockchain” Investment Fund, pledging to invest US$50 million over 10 years in digital currency projects. This move was intended to promote the Antex digital coin and strengthen investor confidence and prevent mass sell-offs that could devalue the coin and cause investors to withdraw from the project.
Although the project was not executed as intended, he and the shareholders of NextTech decided to withdraw funds from the main wallet of the Antex project. They agreed to transfer the money to the personal e-wallets of several individuals involved, convert it into cash, and distribute it among themselves.
In addition, the suspects transferred investors’ money into companies within the NextTech ecosystem for purposes unrelated to the project. To date, Binh and the founding shareholders have withdrawn funds from 30,000 investor wallets, appropriating a large amount of money.
The Investigation Police Agency has temporarily seized and frozen cash, securities accounts, and assets of the suspects with a total estimated value of about VND900 billion. The assets include 597 gold bars, a large amount of US dollars, 18 land use right certificates, and two cars. So far, the suspects have paid VND3.45 billion to remedy the consequences.
During the expanded investigation, Hanoi's police discovered that in 2022, Binh directed the establishment of NextLand Real Estate Trading and Investment Joint Stock Company. He later appointed Doan Van Tuan and Nguyen Ha Thuy as the company’s director and legal representative and assigned Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong and Tran Thi Thuy Van to maintain two sets of accounting books to track the company’s financial activities.
Binh also instructed employees to reduce reported profits and conceal revenue by lowering the sale values stated in contracts with customers (while the actual sales and revenues were recorded in internal accounting books), causing large losses to the State budget.
