Tran Tuan Anh, 48, residing in Cua Nam ward, Hanoi, and Nguyen Thi Hue, 37, residing in Lao Cai province, were sentenced to 14 and 12 years in prison respectively by the Hanoi People's Court on February 6 for the crime of fraud and appropriation of property.

The Prosecutor's Office accused Tuan Anh, who was unemployed and in need of money, of fabricating stories about having influential connections to fix legal cases, obtain land use rights certificates, and broker sales of major artists' paintings to defraud others.

In the art scam, the victim was Mr. Tran, a resident of the former Tran Hung Dao ward, Hanoi. Mr. Tran is a collector of valuable paintings by many contemporary Vietnamese and international artists.

Around March 2023, Mr. Tran intended to sell his collection of 277 paintings. Through social acquaintances, Tuan Anh met Mr. Tran and learned of his intention to sell the collection.

After finding a potential buyer for the paintings, Tuan Anh met Mr. Tran and falsely claimed to have an "influential brother" working in the Government Office who had strong financial capabilities and a passion for art collecting, and could purchase the entire collection.

Tuan Anh asked Mr. Tran to send information about the collection and photos of some paintings. Tuan Anh then forwarded these to an art gallery owner in Nghi Tam to negotiate a purchase.

The gallery owner requested that Tuan Anh first transfer some paintings to verify their quality and value before agreeing to buy them.

Consequently, Tuan Anh lied to Mr. Tran, saying that his "influential brother" from the Government Office wanted to inspect a few paintings from the collection to check their quality and value before finalizing the purchase.

Mr. Tran agreed, and on 28/3/2023, he transferred 22 paintings to Tuan Anh. After inspection, the gallery owner agreed to buy them and transferred VND 32 million to Tuan Anh.

Tuan Anh continued to tell Mr. Tran that his "influential brother" liked and was interested in the collection, assuring him that he would buy the entire collection at a high price, and asked Mr. Tran to show him the remaining paintings.

Mr. Tran stated that the paintings had been collected over 20 years, with a total acquisition cost of approximately VND 17 billion. Tuan Anh responded that his "influential brother" would purchase them at that price.

At noon on 3/4/2023, Tuan Anh went to the exhibition room where Mr. Tran had stored 255 paintings to photograph them and send to the buyer, agreeing on a price of VND 1.1 billion.

Two days later, the art gallery owner in Nghi Tam transferred VND 500 million to Tuan Anh, agreeing to pay the remaining amount upon receipt of the paintings.

After receiving the money, Tuan Anh told Mr. Tran that his "influential brother" had agreed to buy the collection for VND 17 billion, but payment would only be made upon receiving all the paintings. The collector agreed.

The next day, Mr. Tran transferred all 255 paintings to Tuan Anh. Tuan Anh delivered all the paintings to the gallery, but they only paid VND 777 million because Tuan Anh had initially advertised 300 paintings, but there were only 255. Tuan Anh accepted this price.

After acquiring a total of 277 paintings, the gallery sold 239 of them to multiple individuals, stating they could not recall the exact quantity or selling price for each person.

Tuan Anh spent all the money from the painting sales. The unsold paintings were handed over to the investigating agency by the gallery owner.

Investigators worked with the Center for Appraisal and Exhibition of Fine Arts and Photography, but currently, there is no legal basis to appraise the artworks.

The Hanoi Department of Finance's Council for Criminal Procedure Asset Valuation also declined to appraise the 277 paintings.

Neither the art gallery owner nor the buyers knew that the assets were obtained through Tuan Anh's criminal activity. Therefore, the investigating agency did not pursue charges against them.

At the investigating agency, Mr. Tran stated that he had spent a total of VND 17 billion to acquire the 277 paintings. However, due to the long time since the purchases, he could not provide invoices, documents, or the identities of the artists. Consequently, the investigating agency lacked a basis to further investigate and prosecute.

In addition to the aforementioned act, Tuan Anh also conspired with Nguyen Thi Hue to appropriate over VND 1.1 billion from a family by falsely promising to "fix a legal case" to secure a suspended sentence for a relative involved in an extortion case.

In 2019, Tran Tuan Anh also boasted of knowing many people in the Hanoi People's Committee to defraud a couple of VND 400 million, who needed to obtain a land use rights certificate for a 170 sq m plot of land in Tay Ho ward.

Hai Thu