SENTENCING HANDED DOWN IN MASSIVE VIETNAMESE ONLINE GAMBLING BUST (Update)
People's Court of HCM City finds ringleaders of US$28.7 million online sports betting ring guilty.
The People’s Court in HCM City handed down sentences Monday to dozens of defendants linked to a major online sports betting ring dismantled last year by Vietnamese police.
Prosecutors claimed the ring generated the equivalent of around US$28.7 million from its operations between February 2012 to January 2015, and that profits were laundered through 56 separate bank accounts.
The Vietnam News reports that Tô Công Hưng, 34, head of the ring and former director of Dream Weaver Online Joint Stock Company, was sentenced to four years in prison, whilst sixty two associates received either suspended sentences or two years imprisonment.
The court found that Hưng colluded with foreigners and then brought in his older sister, Tô Thị Thu Nhi, and acquaintances into the ring, which operated through the 12bet.com sports betting website.