Former FLC Chairman Trinh Van Quyet hires 7 defense lawyers

The appeal hearing of the stock manipulation case causing losses of VND4,300 billion will take place at the High People's Court in Hanoi.

All 50 defendants in the case appealed. Of these, the three brothers of Mr. Quyet asked for a reduction in their prison sentences, compensation amounts, or to be exempted from compensation liability. 45 defendants asked for a reduction in their sentences, to have their prison sentences changed to suspended sentences, and to be exempted or reduced from compensation.

The two people who appealed the entire verdict were defendants Le Van Tuan (auditor of CPA Company) and Do Nhu Tuan (former General Director of FLC Faros Construction Joint Stock Company - Faros Company).

The Court of Appeal will summon 134 victims and 384 people with related rights and obligations who have appealed the first instance judgment.

At the first instance trial held in August, Mr. Quyet was sentenced by the Hanoi People's Court to 18 years in prison for fraud and appropriation of property and 3 years in prison for manipulating the stock market.,total of 21 years in prison - the highest penalty among the 50 defendants in the case.

For the same two crimes, Mr. Quyet's two younger sisters, Trinh Thi Minh Hue (an officer of the Accounting Department of FLC Group) and Trinh Thi Thuy Nga (former Deputy General Director of BOS Securities Company) were sentenced to 14 and 8 years in prison, respectively.

The court ruled that Mr. Quyet and his two sisters must also jointly compensate the victims who requested it, and 27,866 related people (ie investors who bought ROS shares with inflated value, and requested compensation) at a unit price of VND5,466 per ROS share.

For the crime of stock market manipulation, the prosecution accused Mr. Quyet and his accomplices of asking relatives to register 20 companies and 500 securities accounts, then using them to buy and sell a large number of 5 FLC stocks including GAB, HAI, FLC, AMD and ART, thereby earning a profit of more than 700 billion VND.

Mr. Quyet was recorded by the Procuracy as having paid 237 billion VND, about 5% of the damage in the case (more than 4,300 billion VND). The other defendants paid a total of 6 billion VND.

Thousands of victims and related people The court of first instance ruled that the buyer would receive compensation corresponding to the quantity and time of purchase of ROS shares at inflated prices.

The court of first instance determined that Mr. Quyet, when he was Chairman of FLC Group, built an ecosystem of 82 companies, including Faros, which was acquired in 2011 with a charter capital of VND1.5 billion. Mr. Quyet and his accomplices then used fraudulent tricks to inflate the capital to VND4,300 billion and listed it on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HoSE).

The Procuracy assessed this as an act of fraud and property appropriation when Faros' ROS shares were purchased by more than 25,000 investors, with a total value of more than VND 3,620 billion.

According to the verdict, 430 million shares were issued according to Faros' charter capital of VND4,300 billion, of which the inflated value was VND3,102 billion. Thus, each listed ROS share issued was 72.15% inflated. The par value of ROS shares offered on the market at that time was VND10,000. Therefore, for each share, the defendants inflated by VND7,215.

"The defendants will have to compensate 7,215 VND for each share sold to the victim, multiplied by the number of shares the victim owns," the verdict stated.

As of the date of ROS's delisting from HoSE, September 5, 2022, 63,075 investors (excluding the defendants) were holding a total of more than 567 million ROS shares. During the investigation and at the trial, 27,866 investors requested compensation for damages.

These people were determined by the court to be persons with related rights and obligations, because the rights and liquidity of the ROS shares they purchased were affected after the shares were delisted. Therefore, the defendants must also bear partial responsibility, equivalent to VND 5,466/share.