How Two Males Acquired Life Sentences in Vietnam for Committing a $1.5M Crypto Theft: Report

The Ho Chi Minh Metropolis Individuals’s Courtroom dominated that the Vietnamese residents – Ho Ngoc Tai and Tran Ngoc Hoang – will spend their lives in jail for kidnapping a person and stealing $1.5 million value of bitcoin from him.

14 different individuals who additionally took half within the crime obtained sentences between 9 and 19 years. 

No Mercy 

The 34-year-old Tai and the 40-year-old Hoang have been slammed with life imprisonment for orchestrating a classy kidnapping and later draining $1.5 million in BTC from the sufferer. 

In line with native regulation, digital belongings are unlawful in Vietnam, that means people or companies can’t settle for them as a forex or a method of fee. Nonetheless, the defendants managed to transform the stolen BTC to VND18.8 billion (roughly $800,000). The court docket dominated that the criminals ought to compensate the sufferer with that quantity.

Tai and Hoang weren’t the one folks behind the affair. They have been supported by 14 different associates, who will go to jail, too. Nonetheless, none of them will keep behind bars for all times, with sentences various from 9 to 19 years. 

It’s attention-grabbing to notice that two of them – Nguyen Quoc Dung and Nguyen Anh Tuan – served as law enforcement officials a couple of years again. The previous was sentenced to 17 years, whereas the latter will keep in a correctional facility for 12 years. 

Retrospection of the Crime

As CryptoPotato reported final week, the saga began 5 years in the past when Le Duc Nguyen suggested Ho Ndoc Tai to promote 1,000 BTC (equal to over $4 million on the time) so he might purchase different digital belongings. The funding, although, didn’t flip worthwhile, and Tai steered he had turn out to be a sufferer of a fraudulent scheme. 

He assembled a gang in an try to retrieve his funds, utilizing refined strategies to trace Nguyen’s location. The staff additionally employed a van, bought weapons, and kidnapped the goal at gunpoint.

The criminals ordered the sufferer’s brother to switch the unique quantity of 1,000 BTC to Tai’s pockets, however he couldn’t present all the quantity. As soon as restoring $1.5 million in bitcoin, they deserted the person within the metropolis of Thu Duc: not removed from Ho Chi Minh Metropolis. 

The Vietnamese police, although, have been fast to detect the crime and detained the 16 suspects. Whereas Tai initially admitted to operating the operation, he later reversed his confession. Then again, his associates stated they thought they might solely gather the debt from the sufferer and never take part in a kidnapping.