Police request freezing former FLC chairman’s assets

The Ministry of Public Security has requested localities to freeze assets and shares owned by former FLC Chairman Trinh Van Quyet who was recently arrested for alleged stock market manipulation.

The request was mentioned in documents that the ministry's investigative agency sent to the chairpeople of some cities and provinces, asking them to collaborate in investigating the market manipulation scam at FLC Group, BOS Securities JSC and related firms.

The agency (C01) asked the localities to suspend any transfer, purchase, sale, donation, and mortgage of assets and shares owned by Quyet, his wife Le Thi Ngoc Diep, as well as his two younger sisters Trinh Thuy Nga and Trinh Thi Minh Hue, who were recently detained for investigation.

C01 last week requested eight banks to provide Quyet’s and related people’s account opening documents, payment account information, savings accounts, loans and transaction reports.

On March 29, C01 arrested Quyet for stock market manipulation. Nga, Deputy CEO of BOS Securities JSC, and Hue, an accountant of FLC Group, were detained several days later. This was followed last week by detainments of FLC Deputy Chairwoman Huong Tran Kieu Dung and CEO of BOS Securities Nguyen Quynh Anh.

From December 1, 2021 to January 10, Quyet directed some executives of BOS Securities, FLC’s subsidiaries and other related companies, to use 20 securities accounts from 11 organizations to conduct constant stock transactions, thereby creating fake supply and demand, according to the investigative agency.

On January 10, Quyet was discovered to have sold 74.8 million FLC shares at VND22,586 per share, without informing the market in advance as required by the law, given his being the group’s chairman.

After these transactions, Quyet earned VND1,689 billion, illegally pocketing more than VND530 billion (over $23 million), the authorities reported.

The stock market regulator, State Securities Commission, immediately blocked Quyet’s securities accounts. The SCC on January 17 fined Quyet VND1.5 billion (nearly $66,000) for his act and froze his securities trading accounts for five months. In November 2017, Quyet was fined $2,800 for selling 57 million shares without notifying the market regulator.

Quyet, 47, is the biggest shareholder in FLC Group, holding a more than 30% stake. Quyet and FLC are the owners of Bamboo Airways, with an 80% stake.