Former SJC Employee Sentenced to 15 Years for Gold Fraud

In Ho Chi Minh City, former employees of Saigon Gold and Gem Company (SJC) have been sentenced to 15 years in prison each for attempting to defraud the company. Nguyen Quoc Viet, 39, and Thai Xuan Binh, 50, were found guilty of asset embezzlement by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court on September 25. Viet, who worked in SJC's wholesale jewelry department, was aware that the company purchased dented SJC gold bars at a higher price than 9999 raw gold. SJC had a policy to process these dented bars into 9999 rings, managing them by content and weight. Leveraging this knowledge, Viet conspired with Binh, who had left SJC in 2019. They planned to remove dented SJC gold bars from the warehouse, sell them, and replace them with cheaper market-available 9999 gold to pocket the price difference. On May 6, 2025, Viet took 30 taels (approximately 11.25 kg) of dented SJC gold bars, valued at over VND 3.6 billion (approximately USD 146,000), from the warehouse he managed and asked Binh to sell them. Due to his busy schedule, Binh asked his wife to handle the sale. The following day, when she brought the 30 taels of gold to an SJC store, the company became suspicious of its origin and reported it to the police. During the investigation, Viet and Binh admitted to the crime and confessed that they had previously carried out similar schemes twice, illicitly obtaining a total of 44 taels of SJC gold bars and making an illegal profit of over VND 405 million (approximately USD 16,400). However, SJC's warehouse inspections and cross-departmental checks confirmed that the corresponding gold had been withdrawn from inventory, processed into finished rings, and its quality secured. The company determined that only 30 taels of dented SJC gold bars were lost as of May 7, 2025. Therefore, investigators found insufficient evidence to confirm the additional 44 taels alleged by the defendants. This case highlights the dynamics of the gold market in Vietnam and the importance of internal control systems in precious metal trading. SJC is one of Vietnam's most trusted gold brands, and such incidents can affect consumer confidence. The Vietnamese government is strengthening regulations and oversight to ensure financial market stability and prevent fraudulent activities.