The legal dispute centers on the financial dealings of FLC Faros Construction Joint Stock Company, a subsidiary of FLC Group, prior to its initial public offering in 2016. The original indictment alleged that Quyet and his accomplices fraudulently exaggerated the value of the company shortly before it went public. According to the charges, the company sold 391 million shares to approximately 30,000 investors, resulting in a defrauded amount of 3.6 trillion Vietnamese dong, or roughly $144 million. The Hanoi People’s Court had previously identified Quyet as the mastermind of the scheme, which involved exploiting legal loopholes and using the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange as a channel for the offense.
Quyet, 48, is a prominent figure in Vietnam’s business landscape, known for owning discount airline Bamboo Airways and FLC Group, which held extensive real estate assets including hotels, resorts, and golf courses. His arrest in 2022 was part of the Communist Party’s decade-long anti-corruption campaign, known as the “Blazing Furnace,” which has seen thousands of officials disciplined and eight members of the powerful Politburo ousted since 2016. The case also implicated other high-profile figures, including Tran Dac Sinh, the former chairman of the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange, who was sentenced to 6.5 years in prison for approving the scheme despite knowing the figures presented to investors were false.
The appellate panel’s decision to reduce Quyet’s sentence relied on several mitigating circumstances documented during the hearing. The court noted that the consequences of the case had been fully remedied. Specifically, Quyet and his two sisters, Trinh Thi Minh Hue and Trinh Thi Thuy Nga, handed over the entire amount of money embezzled, totaling 2,467 billion Vietnamese dong ($94.39 million), to the state. This restitution exceeded the required compensation amount by more than 46 billion Vietnamese dong ($1.76 million). Additionally, the court considered Quyet’s family’s historical contributions to the country’s revolution and his current medical condition, noting he was being treated for a serious illness with a high prognosis of death.
The appellate ruling extended to other defendants in the case, which originally involved 50 individuals. Trinh Thi Minh Hue, Quyet’s sister, saw her sentence for fraud and appropriation of property reduced from 14 years to 4.5 years. She was also fined 3.5 billion Vietnamese dong for stock market manipulation. Her sister, Trinh Thi Thuy Nga, had her eight-year sentence reduced to a period equivalent to the time she had already been temporarily detained, resulting in her release from the court. She was also fined 3 billion Vietnamese dong. Another key accomplice, Huong Tran Kieu Dung, the former Deputy Chairwoman of FLC, had her sentence cut from 8.5 years to 3.5 years, along with a 3 billion Vietnamese dong fine.
The judging panel emphasized that while the defendants had exploited stock market operations to commit crimes, thereby undermining public trust and investor confidence, the full restitution mitigated the impact of their actions. The court also granted sentence reductions to some defendants who had not filed appeals but presented new extenuating circumstances. Over 5,000 petitions from individuals and organizations were part of the broader context of the case, reflecting the scale of the investor base affected by the 2016 IPO.
This verdict stands in contrast to other high-profile financial fraud cases in Vietnam. In April, real estate mogul Truong My Lan was sentenced to death for masterminding the country’s largest ever financial fraud case, involving $12.5 billion. While Quyet’s sentence was drastically reduced, the original conviction had placed him alongside other business moguls swept up in the anti-corruption drive. The legal distinction drawn by the appellate court highlights the weight given to financial restitution and health conditions in Vietnamese judicial proceedings for economic crimes.
The reduction in sentences marks a significant procedural shift from the initial trial, which lasted two weeks and resulted in a 21-year sentence for Quyet. The original verdict held that Quyet directly orchestrated the scheme, while other defendants acted as accomplices assisting in the execution of the offense. The appellate court’s acceptance of the appeals and the conversion of prison terms into monetary fines for several defendants charged with stock market manipulation suggest a judicial reassessment of the proportionality of the original sentences in light of the full recovery of funds.
It remains to be seen how this decision will be viewed by the broader investor community, though the court noted the remediation of the case’s consequences. The final legal step for Quyet is now serving a seven-year term for fraudulent appropriation of property, having avoided the additional prison time for market manipulation through the imposition of a fine. The case concludes the immediate appellate phase for the primary defendants, with the restitution providing a financial resolution to the claims of the thousands of investors defrauded during the 2016 public offering.
