Police propose prosecuting Egroup CEO Nguyen Ngoc Thuy for fraud, bribery

By Thai Ha
Tue, November 18, 2025 | 4:01 pm GMT+7

Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security has proposed prosecuting Nguyen Ngoc Thuy, chairman and CEO of Hanoi-based education group Egroup, along with 28 others, for fraud to appropriate property, giving bribes, and receiving bribes.

The ministry's investigative police on Monday stated that it had completed its probe into alleged fraud, bribery, and bribery-taking at Egroup, Egame, Nhat Tran Company, and several related entities.

Thuy is accused of offering bribes and committing fraud to appropriate assets. In 2024, the police had initiated legal proceedings against Thuy for the same charges.

Nguyen Ngoc Thuy, chairman and CEO of Egroup. Photo courtesy of the company.

Nguyen Ngoc Thuy, chairman and CEO of Egroup. Photo courtesy of the company.

Thuy is widely known as “Shark Thuy,” after he joined "Shark Tank Vietnam" in 2018-2019 - a reality TV show about business where entrepreneurs presented their ideas to a group of wealthy investors, called "sharks". These "sharks" would review and decide whether to invest in that project or not.

According to the investigators, from 2015 to 2023, Thuy and accomplices allegedly used non-existent Egroup shares to raise capital, including by selling the shares for cash or bank transfers, exchanging them for real estate, or borrowing money from investors while pledging ownership of the shares.

Thuy, born in 1982 in Hanoi, founded Egame in 2008 before expanding it into Egroup, a network of companies in education, health and information services.

He gained prominence through English-language school chains Apax English and Apax Leaders, which rapidly expanded to more than 100 centers nationwide within four years, with 800 native teachers and 75,000 students.

Hanoi Police in October initiated legal proceedings against Nguyen Hoa Binh, chairman of NextTech Group, for “fraudulent appropriation of assets” related to a cryptocurrency project and “violating accounting regulations causing serious consequences”.

According to the investigation, Binh, popularly known as “Shark Binh”, was charged with “fraudulent appropriation of assets” related to the AntEx crypto project and “violating accounting regulations causing serious consequences” in connection with Nextland Real Estate JSC.

In total, 10 individuals, including Binh, have been subject to legal proceedings for the two charges.

Like Thuy of Egroup, Binh joined "Shark Tank Vietnam" so he earned the name "Shark Binh".

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