Tan Hoang Minh issued $437M in fake bonds and was bankrupt within months

Tan Hoang Minh was a family-owned real estate developer in Vietnam, known for luxury residential projects in Hanoi. In early 2022 the company ran into financial trouble. Chairman Do Anh Dung told his son and CEO Do Hoang Viet to find cash. The problem was that Tan Hoang Minh was too indebted to issue bonds itself, so Viet devised a scheme: three subsidiaries would issue bonds using falsified financial records and fake project names.

The three subsidiaries issued bonds worth VND10 trillion ($437M). Tan Hoang Minh 'bought' them without paying in full, then sold them to retail investors as investment partnerships. In reality the money went to cover the parent company's debts. The scheme worked for months until the regulator noticed the mismatch and cancelled the issuance in April 2022, the same day Do Anh Dung was arrested.

The fraud was uncovered quickly because the projects cited in the bond documents did not exist. VND8.6 trillion ($354M) had been taken from 6,600 mostly retail investors. The company was ordered to refund every victim. By late 2024 all investors had been repaid, but the company had to sell off its developments to do so. Tan Hoang Minh effectively ceased to exist as a developer.

In March 2024 Do Anh Dung was sentenced to eight years in prison for fraudulent appropriation of assets. His son received three years. The nine other employees tried had no power and were merely following orders — a verdict that underscored the family-controlled structure of the company.