Regulators: Santa Ana man used YouTube, Vietnamese-language TV to lure victims into $2.4 million investment scam

The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a complaint against a Santa Ana businessman accused of using YouTube and paid Vietnamese-language television to lure people into what authorities describe as a $2.4 million investment scam.

Richard Vu Nguyen, also known as Nguyen Thanh Vu, is accused of misappropriating roughly $600,000, lying about his credentials and concealing his criminal history.

He faces four fraud-related allegations in connection with his dealings as an unlicensed securities broker and the head of a company called NTV Financial, according to the SEC. They called the fund he advertised “pure fiction.”

Nguyen, 52, denied the allegations in an interview, saying, “Our promise to our investors is to return their money when they need it at 16% annual interest. It’s not a fund. Investors give me money, and I can do whatever I want with it so long as I pay them interest.”

The SEC’s civil complaint states that the company paid to broadcast a weekly talk show titled “Kim Tien Sat Phat,” which translates from Vietnamese to “Golden Money — Winning at All Costs,” in English. In the videos, the SEC said, Nguyen claimed to have over 20 years of experience as a banker with Goldman Sachs.

The program advertised what he called the “Nguyen Tran Le Fund,” as a supposedly risk-free investment opportunity that promised substantial returns to a mostly Vietnamese audience, according to the complaint.

At least 80 investors, mostly members of Vietnamese communities in California, poured about $2.4 million into the scheme between Feb. 2018 and March 2019, regulators said. The money was deposited into accounts held by Nguyen, NTV Financial, and a girlfriend, they said.

Nguyen allegedly went on to misappropriate about $600,000 paid by his victims, with part of the money spent on a car, motorcycle, jewelry and house payments, regulators said. Those purchases took place while Nguyen and his company incurred large losses in trading, according to the complaint.

“Those losses have made it impossible for the Fund to make good on the Defendant’s guaranteed right of redemption,” SEC officials said.

In addition, Nguyen allegedly convinced  at least 30 people to provide him with their personal information and access to online brokerage accounts so that he could trade on their behalf, the complaint said. As of March 2019, 17 clients who deposited a total of about $1.19 million dollars into their accounts had trading losses totaling almost $570,000, regulators said.

Nguyen questioned the figures provided by the SEC, saying they failed to take account dramatic but expected fluctuations in his company’s cash reserves as numerous clients withdrew and reinvested funds.

The SEC requested an emergency restraining order against Nguyen, which was granted by a federal judge earlier this month. It bars him from accessing his client’s brokerage accounts and freezes his assets.

Attorneys for the SEC also said Nguyen concealed from investors that he served 15 months in prison after pleading guilty in August 2009 to wire fraud. He also was sanctioned by the California Department of Corporations in 1999 for securities related misconduct, and again in 2007 for acting as an unregistered broker-dealer, they said. In addition, Nguyen was sentenced in August 2012 to  two years in prison after he was convicted of inflicting injury upon a dependent adult.