Hanoi police seized assets worth VND900 billion (US$34.15 million) from Shark Tank investor Nguyen Hoa Binh, including 597 gold bars, after arresting him for alleged crypto fraud.

They included title deeds for 18 properties and two vehicles, according to a police release Tuesday.

Binh, chairman of tech company NextTech, and nine others were charged with fraudulent appropriation of assets and violations of accounting regulations causing serious consequences in crypto project AntEx.

The police said in 2021 Binh collaborated with some individuals “with expertise and knowledge of cryptocurrency” to pool funds for the AntEx project. They invested VND5, with Binh’s share being VND2 billion.

They sought to sell cryptocurrency AntEx to investors to raise funds to develop a stablecoin called “VNDT” pegged to the Vietnamese dong.

He and his collaborators planned to sell 100 billion AntEx tokens in all, and managed to sell 33.2 billion to 30,000 investors between August and November 2021 on various exchanges, collecting 4.5 million USDT (equivalent to US$4.5 million).

In late 2021 Binh capitalized on his reputation and influence to post on social media about launching the “Next100 Blockchain” investment fund, committing to invest $50 million in cryptocurrency projects over 10 years to promote AntEx. The police said this was to prevent a mass sell-off.

Despite the project’s failure to follow its roadmap, Binh and the others withdrew funds from the project’s main wallet, converted them into dong and shared them.

Part of the funds were also diverted to companies in the NextTech ecosystem and used for other purposes.

The police said Binh and his associates “fraudulently appropriated an especially large amount of money.”

Colonel Thanh Kien Trung, deputy head of the Hanoi economic police division, said investigations of Binh’s “many violations” are ongoing and there “certainly would be more than two charges against him.”

The police said in 2022 Binh instructed accounting employees to use two sets of books for his company Nextland Real Estate Business Jsc to conceal revenues and profits by showing lower sales values.

Binh gained fame as “tech shark” from the “Shark Tank Vietnam” program, where he invested in dozens of startups, primarily in e-commerce, fintech and the media.

His personal life too has drawn attention since his second marriage to an actress.