Tri Viet Securities chairman investigated for manipulating stock market

Pham Thanh Tung, chairman of Tri Viet Securities JSC, has been placed under investigation for allegedly manipulating the stock market.

Tung involves the case of manipulating the price of BII and TGG stocks that occurred at Louis Holdings JSC, Louis Capital JSC, Louis Land JSC, and Tri Viet Securities JSC.

He was appointed chairman of the brokerage house (TVB) on December 5, 2022, for the period of 2022-2024.

Tung, 43, holds a master's degree in finance. He held many senior positions at TVB like acting general director (July 2014 to November 2016), general director (November 2016 to August 2018), and board chairman (September 2020 to July 2022 and from December 5 until now).

He is also known as the founder and chairman of Tri Viet Asset Management Corporation JSC. During the period from April 2019 to March 2021, he was chairman of Credit Rating Vietnam JSC.

Following news that its chairman had been put under investigation, TVB shares at the opening morning session on December 13 fell to its floor price, at VND4,330 ($0.18) per unit, with more than 2.1 million shares unsold. Since the beginning of the year, the TVB price has dropped by nearly 82%.

In the third quarter of 2022, TVB recorded a revenue of VND19 billion ($805,000), a sharp decrease of 77% year-on-year; it lost VND6 billion ($254,000), compared to a profit of nearly VND39 billion ($1.65 million) in the same period last year.

In the first nine months of 2022, TVB recorded an after-tax profit of more than VND34 billion ($1.44 million), down 83% year-on-year.

Do Thanh Nhan, chairman of Louis Holdings, and Do Duc Nam, general director of Tri Viet Securities, were arrested on April 20 for allegedly manipulating the stock market to reap windfall gains.

Nhan, Nam, and Trinh Thi Thuy Linh, CEO of Louis Holdings, and Le Thi Thuy Lien, a financial service staff member of Tri Viet Securities Company, were detained by the Ministry of Public Security’s investigative agency for further probing alleged stock market interference.

According to Lieutenant General To An Xo, a spokesperson for the ministry, from January 4 to October 6, 2021, Nhan was accused of colluding with Nam and a number of people "using multiple securities trading accounts" to buy, sell and entice others to "manipulate the stock price" of Louis Capital JSC (ticker code TGG), Louis Land JSC (BII) and other stocks.

This behavior is considered illegal, earning them hundreds of billions of Vietnamese dong illegally (VND100 billion = $4.36 million).