Investigators found 94 kilograms of gold, including ingots, bars and more than 500 gold blister packs, worth a combined VND222 billion, at an apartment in Ho Chi Minh City belonging to his girlfriend, Nguyen Thanh Tam, according to a recent indictment.
Authorities also seized VND44.8 billion in cash, equivalent to roughly 90 kilograms in Vietnam’s highest-denomination banknotes, more than US$1.7 million, hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of other foreign currencies and dozens of land-use-right certificates.
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Gold confiscated from the Mr Pips’ case. Photo courtesy of Vietnam police |
Nam and his accomplices were arrested in 2024 for allegedly using fake forex and stock trading websites to lure people into depositing money, then manipulated the platforms to take their funds.
Tam, 31, lived with Nam as his girlfriend and was entrusted with managing all money and assets obtained through crime.
While Nam went on livestreams to give investment advice and lured victims into trading forex on his fraudulent platforms, Tam acted as his money manager, working behind the scenes with his parents to direct the flow of illicit funds.
Prosecutors said that in October 2021, Nam told his girlfriend to contact his father, Pho Duc Thang, and ask him to find someone willing to be named as the person who registered a company.
Thang borrowed the identity card of a colleague, took a photo of it and sent it to Tam to register South Wealth Real Estate.
Tam also contacted Nam’s aunt, Nguyen Thi Thuy, and asked her to run Tech Invest, a company Nam had established.
Nam instructed Tam and Thuy to use the two companies to buy and sell properties to conceal the origins of the illegally obtained money.
Tam also held title to and directly managed some of the properties. Nam’s parents held title to others. The 32 properties were valued at VND378 billion.
On the day Nam was arrested, his parents scrambled to withdraw VND115 billion to buy gold. His girlfriend, however, had been instructed to stockpile gold from the outset.
According to the allegations, Nam gave Tam VND141 billion in cash to buy 78 one-kilogram gold bars, a nearly 6-kg gold block shaped like a cat, hundreds of other gold bars and pieces, Vietnamese dong and various foreign currencies.
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Pho Duc Nam, known as Mr Pips, displays piles of U.S. dollars in a social media post. Photo courtesy of Pho Duc Nam |
Nam’s parents, Tam and several of his cousins face money-laundering charges over the alleged conduct. Tam is accused of laundering VND384 billion.
The indictment also details the role of Tam’s older brother, Nguyen Thanh Phong, a police officer who was part of a “legal advisory team” for Nam whenever employees were summoned by investigators or faced prosecution and trial. The team was paid VND6.4 billion, of which Phong received VND2.2 billion.
Phong is also accused of pooling money with Nam to buy four plots of land in Tay Ninh. He faces an additional charge of property fraud.
Another prominent figure accused of laundering large sums for Nam is Shark Tank investor Nguyen Hoa Binh, who allegedly laundered VND320 billion and received 1% to 2.5% of each deposit or withdrawal transaction involving victims’ money.
Binh is also accused of helping Nam falsify reports whenever police sent official requests to verify funds held on the fraudulent Forex platforms.
Regarding the Mr Pips’ frauds, investigators found victims losing about VND1.3 trillion in total, and charged 83 people in connection with the operation.
Authorities seized $2.3 million in cash, about 280 kg of gold, 41 cars and seven motorbikes, and froze transactions involving 130 properties.
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