Hanoi (VNS/VNA) – 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 8.4 trillion VND (321 million USD) 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 Tho, its chief accountant, inflated the company’s charter capital and shareholdings from 32 billion VND to 962.5 billion VND (1.2–3 7 million USD).
The defendants also fabricated revenue figures equivalent to about 70% of annual revenue to portray the company as a large-scale business.
After attracting investors, Thuy personally arranged to sell them shares at 38,000 VND (1.5 USD) apiece.
He also pledged to buy the shares back after one year at 42,000 VND (1.6 USD) 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, Thuy instructed 23 managers and team leaders overseeing 341 sales employees to use 70% of funds raised from new customers to repay existing customers with outstanding balances, while transferring the remaining 30% to the company.
From 2015 to 2023, Thuy and his accomplices allegedly misappropriated nearly 8.5 trillion VND (330 million USD) 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./.
Criminal proceedings against "Shark Binh" launched in crypto case
The Investigation Police Agency has temporarily seized and frozen cash, securities accounts, and assets of the suspects with a total estimated value of about 900 billion VND.
