On 30/6, Le Thanh Huynh Cang, 54, and Tymur Bugaievskvi, 36, an Ukrainian national, were each sentenced by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court to one year, 7 months, and 29 days in prison for usurious lending in civil transactions. 28 other defendants received sentences ranging from a 200 million VND fine to one year and 4 months in prison for the same offense.

Authorities identified Katerynchyk Roman, an Ukrainian national, as the mastermind behind the entire operation; however, he has since left the country.

According to the indictment, Cang met Katerynchyk Roman in 2019 through social connections and assisted him in exploring financial investment opportunities in Vietnam. The pair then devised a plan to establish the Ixora ecosystem, a network of interconnected companies designed to facilitate usurious lending. All legal entities formed were under the direct guidance and oversight of Roman and Cang.

Initially, three companies were established: OnCredit and Loi Tin, both headquartered in Phu Nhuan district, and Ixora, located in District 2. Cang was tasked with managing the two Phu Nhuan-based companies to facilitate lending through the OnCredit application in Vietnam. Katerynchyk Roman's Ixora Company, intended for information technology, remained inactive due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

To mask their usurious practices, the companies, as alleged in the indictment, publicly listed an interest rate of 0,054% per day (19,44% annually), which fell within legal boundaries. However, borrowers were subjected to numerous additional charges, including consultation fees, contract renewal fees, and late payment penalties, pushing the actual annual interest rates to between 365% and 792%, depending on the specific loan package.

The companies were structured to operate cohesively, establishing a network for usurious lending through mobile applications and websites. To apply for a loan, customers were required to download the application or visit Oncredit.vn or Easycash.vn. They had to provide personal information, a portrait photograph, and grant the software access to their phone's contact list and other data. This information was then input into a "scoring" system, programmed by Tymur Bugaievskvi, to evaluate a customer's borrowing capacity. Based on the system's recommendations, applications would either be approved or rejected before Loc Tin Company, previously Loi Tin, disbursed the funds.

Tymur Bugaievskvi, a defendant, at court. Photo: Binh Nguyen

By 2023, increased scrutiny and preventive measures by Vietnamese authorities against lending activities led the ring to scale back its operations. In April of that year, the inter-agency task force of the former Thu Duc City fined OnCredit Company for operating outside its registered business lines. Roman subsequently instructed Cang to temporarily suspend activities before leaving the country.

Despite being abroad, Roman maintained contact, directing Cang to pivot operations, prepare legal documentation, recruit staff, and establish additional companies, each responsible for a specific stage of the lending process. Following Roman's instructions, Cang engaged relatives and acquaintances to register companies including Loc Tin, Cactus, and Vinex. These entities, in collaboration with Ixora, managed a closed-loop lending process via the OnCredit application and the websites Oncredit.vn and Easycash.vn.

To ensure the system's operation, Roman dispatched several technology experts from Ukraine to Ho Chi Minh City. Tymur Bugaievskvi developed the customer scoring software, while Kravchuk Iryna oversaw debt collection, business development, and staff supervision. The indictment alleged that the lending applications and websites were pre-programmed in Ukraine. Customer data, electronic contracts, loan details, and all transaction information were stored on offshore systems. Vietnamese staff could only access and update data, without the ability to download or copy it.

Data extracted from the system revealed that 20 customers entered into 62 loan agreements, receiving over 905 million VND but ultimately obligated to repay nearly 1,2 billion VND. The interest collected amounted to 268 million VND, significantly exceeding the legal limit of 8 million VND. Throughout the investigation and during the trial, the defendants admitted their criminal conduct.

Binh Nguyen