Ho Chi Minh City police conclude investigation into fraud and money-laundering case at Capel

Police in Ho Chi Minh City have concluded their investigation into an alleged fraud and money-laundering case at Capel Group, with prosecutors indicting five suspects, authorities said on Sept. 4.

Two of the defendants, former Capel Group chairman Lã Quốc Trưởng and Vũ Đức Tĩnh, the former director of Thái Tuấn Trading and Services Co., face charges of property appropriation fraud and money laundering. Three other defendants, Đỗ Doãn Năng, Hà Thị Nga and Nguyễn Hà Như Thuỵ, face fraud charges.

Investigators said Trưởng and Tĩnh discussed raising money from multiple people after meeting in Hanoi in late 2021. Trưởng later established Capel Group's board and organized two to six seminars each week, with about 300 people attending each event.

At the seminars, Capel promoted allegedly highly profitable investments in real estate, green energy, solar power, garment technology transfer and agricultural technology. The company also claimed to have offices in several countries. Investors were invited to sign business cooperation contracts presented as purchases of Capel shares, with promised returns of 0.625% per day, 3.125% per week and 12.5% per month. The contracts promised to return up to 300% of the principal and interest after two years.

Between Feb. 25, 2021, and April 18, 2022, Capel signed nearly 8,000 contracts with 4,837 investors and collected more than 702 billion dong, investigators said. The company paid investors more than 52 billion dong in direct bonuses and distributed more than 229 billion dong in profits, while allegedly taking more than 420.7 billion dong from victims. So far, 2,074 victims have reported the case and sought more than 269.2 billion dong in compensation. Police said they would separate the conduct of 11 other people for further verification and action.