Police provide important information to victims in Shark Bình case

On 3 April 2026, Hanoi Police held a press briefing to share information related to the Nguyen Hòa Bình case (Shark Bình). Colonel Nguyen Duc Long, Deputy Director of Hanoi Police and Head of the Investigative Police, said that beyond establishing the crimes of the suspects, the investigative agency focused on seizing assets derived from the crime and taking steps to remedy victims’ losses, including freezing and seizing assets valued at over 900 billion VND for compensation.

Colonel Nguyen Duc Long added that, to date, 51 investors have contacted the investigative authorities to cooperate. Investigators will guide victims on procedures to recover their funds.

Money laundering case involving e-wallet intermediary and unlicensed forex platforms

Regarding the case against Phó Đức Nam (Mr. Pips), Hanoi Police said it has requested charges against Nguyen Hòa Bình (Shark Bình, Chairman of Ngân Lượng JSC) for money laundering.

The investigation concluded that to facilitate receiving money from investors, Nam and accomplices used Ngân Lượng’s e-wallet system as an intermediary, creating large-scale fund flows involving multiple forex platforms. The police noted that these forex platforms are not licensed by the State Bank of Vietnam and operate illegally.

During the operation, Nam added several other forex platforms—DK Trade, ASX, ACX, Sea Investing, HonorFX, ScopeMarkets—into the Ngân Lượng payment system. Telegram groups were formed with participation from sales, technical, operations teams, and platform staff to handle transaction issues and reconcile funds.

From 15 June 2020 to 23 September 2022, the police said 150 victims transferred funds into Ngân Lượng wallets totaling over 213.4 billion VND. These funds were circulated through several bank accounts registered to Ngân Lượng at major banks and then deposited into the named forex platforms.

Additional charges in 2025 and related allegations

Colonel Nguyen Quoc Toan, Chief of the Ministry of Public Security’s Office, chaired the briefing. In addition to the above case, Hanoi Police said that in mid-October 2025 it charged Shark Bình with fraud; violations of accounting regulations causing serious consequences; and tax evasion related to the Antex project.

According to the indictment, from November 2021 to December 2021 Nguyen Hòa Bình posted information about launching the Next100 Blockchain investment fund, promising investments in crypto projects with total capital of 50 million USD over 10 years. The police said the project did not proceed as planned, but Bình and NextTech’s shareholders agreed to withdraw funds from the Antex project wallet, transfer to individuals’ wallets within the project, and convert to VND for sharing.

The investigation also concluded that funds were moved to other companies within the NextTech ecosystem for purposes other than those intended by investors. Hanoi Police said Bình and founding shareholders withdrew funds from about 30,000 investor wallets, misappropriating a particularly large amount.

In 2022, the police said they discovered that Nguyen Hòa Bình directed the establishment of NextLand Real Estate Trading JSC and instructed staff to use two accounting systems to reduce profits and conceal revenue by undervaluing sale prices on contracts with clients, causing a particularly large loss to the state budget.

Asset seizures and remedies paid

Hanoi Police said investigators seized and blocked funds, securities accounts, and assets valued at about 900 billion VND, including 597 gold bars, USD, 18 land-use certificates, and 2 cars, along with other documents and devices.

To date, the police said the defendants have paid back about 3.45 billion VND in remedies.