Brian Jeffrey
In the wake of Nguyen Thuc Thuy Tien’s unexpected arrest, numerous beauty titleholders from Vietnam have found themselves linked to serious criminal inquiries, ranging from fraud to involvement in escort services.
Nguyen Thuc Thuy Tien, who won Miss Grand International in 2021 and was born in 1998, is now facing prosecution by Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security for “defrauding customers.” She is implicated as a collaborator in a case concerning the Chi Em Rot Group Joint Stock Company.
This case is linked to Kera vegetable candy, a dietary supplement that Thuy Tien endorsed and helped to develop with other shareholders. She held a 30% ownership stake and shared in the profits made.
Authorities discovered that the company sold over 135,000 boxes of Kera candy, generating nearly 18 billion VND (around 720,000 USD). Thuy Tien received close to 7 billion VND (approximately 280,000 USD) in commissions from these sales.
In 2012, the public was taken aback when Vo Thi My Xuan, born in 1983 and crowned Miss Nam Mekong in 2009, was arrested for “prostitution brokerage.” She emerged as a critical figure in a sex trafficking network that involved models and beauty contestants, with the financial exchanges amounting to thousands of US dollars.
During her trial in 2013, My Xuan stated that her financial struggles led her to engage in this illicit trade, and she later brought friends and colleagues into it. The court sentenced her to two years and six months behind bars.
Truong Thi Tuyet Nga, recognized as Mrs. Vietnam 2009 and born in 1961, was initially celebrated as a successful entrepreneur. However, she was arrested in 2013 for “fraudulent appropriation of assets.”
During her trial in 2016, the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court found that Tuyet Nga had swindled a victim identified only as L. out of 3.1 million USD through a real estate scam. She received a sentence of 15 years and was ordered to repay the victim after deducting a partial payment made during the inquiry.
In 2017, the High People’s Court in Ho Chi Minh City upheld the original ruling while rejecting Tuyet Nga’s appeal.
Miss Vietnam in Russia 2007, T.H.P.N, born in 1987, was embroiled in a notorious “romantic contract” scandal. Together with her accomplice D., she was charged with defrauding an individual named M. out of 16.5 billion VND (about 660,000 USD) in a real estate transaction in 2012.
Both were apprehended by the Ho Chi Minh City police in March 2015. During the initial trial in 2016, N. claimed the funds were gifts exchanged as part of a personal relationship.
By 2019, authorities dropped the charges after the investigation failed to substantiate the fraud claims, but the controversy effectively ended her professional journey.
