Thuy was commonly known as Shark Thuy, a former investor of the “Shark Tank Vietnam” show on the VTV3 channel which is a playground for start-up entrepreneurs with the opportunity to present their unique products and services in front of a panel of investors.
The information was announced by Lieutenant-General To An Xo, Spokesperson of the Ministry of Public Security at a press conference on March 26 morning.
Accordingly, on the night of March 25, the Police Investigation Agency (PIA) under the Ministry of Public Security prosecuted and held into custody with Nguyen Ngoc Thuy for the crime of “Fraudulent and appropriation of property” at Egroup Education Group Joint Stock Company and Egame Investment and Distribution Joint Stock Company.
Apart from Thuy, the Police Investigation Agency also prosecuted and arrested Dang Van Hien, Head of the Investor Relations Committee of Egame Investment and Distribution Joint Stock Company for the similar crime of “Fraudulent and appropriation of property” regulated on Article 174, Penal Code 2015, amended and supplemented in 2017.
After the Supreme People's Procuracy approved the above decisions and orders, the Police Investigation Agency under the Ministry of Public Security enforced the decisions and orders as regulated.
At the current time, the PIA is under further investigation for the case and applies the measures as legal regulations to revoke the properties.
In order to serve the investigation and ensure the rights of victims, Lieutenant General To An Xo informed that those who had purchased shares and given loans via share mortgage form in Thuy’s company and currently have outstanding balances that should promptly contact and provide information and documents to the PIA.
Previously, several residents in the capital city of Hanoi signed and submitted complaints to the Committee on People's Aspiration under the National Assembly to denounce Nguyen Ngoc Thuy, legal representative in Egroup Education Group Joint Stock Company and Egame Investment and Distribution Joint Stock Company in 25T1, Tran Duy Hung Street, Trung Hoa Ward, Cau Giay District, Hanoi City for fraud and appropriation of properties of many people via forms of deposit contract.
The plaintiffs said that they denounced defendant Thuy for the act of fraud and appropriation with a total amount of up to over VND226 billion (US$9 million).
From 2017 to 2022, via the introduction of friends and acquaintances, the group of plaintiffs acknowledged that Shark Thuy had a demand to call for investment capital in Egroup with attractive interest rates of up to 15 percent per year.
Owing to his prestige from the APax English Center and the Shark Tank Vietnam TV show, many people transferred to him with a total amount of hundreds of billion dong.
Apart from Egame, defendant Nguyen Ngoc Thuy also established several subsidiaries to mobilize funds to appropriate investors’ money, comprising OZen Group, Apax Holding including Apax English, Apax Leaders and so on.
The companies have issued a lot of bonds to mobilize money without paying any principal and interest to the investors.
In Ho Chi Minh City, several representatives of parents demanded refunds from Apax Leader English centers.
230 parents came to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training and Department of Public Security to denounce defendant Nguyen Ngoc Thuy, General Director of Apax Leader English Center for the act of opening and closing, online teaching with infringement of legal regulations at the centers.
