Le Thanh Nhat Nguyen of Bong Lai Monastery was sentenced to 9 years in prison for defrauding charity money.

On May 28, the People's Court of Duc Hoa district (Long An) reopened the first-instance trial of Le Thanh Nhat Nguyen for fraud and property appropriation related to fundraising activities at the facility formerly named Tinh That Bong Lai, later renamed "Thien am ben bo vu tru".

In the same case, the court summoned Le Thanh Nhi Nguyen (currently serving a 3-year and 6-month prison sentence from a previous case) as a person with related rights and obligations.

Impersonating a temple, calling for donations

Bong Lai Monastery, later renamed Thien Am Ben Bo Vu Co, was widely known on social media thanks to videos featuring a group of people claiming to be monks, living and practicing in a house in Long An. This place is not recognized as a legal religious establishment, but its members still wear monk robes, hold rituals and claim to be monks and nuns, thereby attracting attention and support from the online community.

Becoming famous from videos with entertaining content, singing contests, storytelling... elaborately staged, the group of people here quickly built an image associated with humanity and the spirit of religious practice. In particular, they also promoted the care of "destitute" people, thereby creating sympathy and trust from the public.

Specifically, according to the indictment, in 2015, Ms. Cao Thi Cuc built a house in Lap Thanh hamlet (Hoa Khanh Tay commune, Duc Hoa district). Afterwards, Mr. Le Tung Van and many people, including Nhat Nguyen and Hoan Nguyen, moved there to live. They named this place "Tinh That Bong Lai", called each other "teacher", "master", wore Buddhist monk costumes, and organized rituals such as ordination and renunciation.

On social media, this group posted many videos, introducing themselves as a temple, monks and calling for community support. The videos on the YouTube channel "5 Little Monks - Thien Am Ben Bo Vu Tru" attracted great attention, along with a call for sponsorship and bank account information of Hoan Nguyen and Nhat Nguyen.

The investigation agency determined that from 2018 to 2021, through creating the image of a non-existent religious establishment, Nhat Nguyen called for support and appropriated a total of more than 365 million VND.

Caught while receiving donations

On January 4, 2022, at a coffee shop in Huu Thanh commune, the authorities discovered Nhat Nguyen receiving 100 million VND from a contributor and invited him to the headquarters for questioning.

This person said that after watching many videos on YouTube, he thought that this place was a real religious facility, so he went there in person and saw a Buddha statue and a construction site that was being introduced as a pagoda. Believing, he donated cash and construction materials with a total value of more than 100 million VND.

Similarly, two others were also convinced by the staged image and contributed more than 250 million VND. When they discovered they had been scammed, they filed a report with the investigating agency.

Not sincere, sentenced to 13 years in prison

During the investigation, Nhat Nguyen did not cooperate and did not give a clear statement. However, the authorities collected enough evidence from videos, financial transactions... to determine the crime.

In court, Nhat Nguyen continued to plead not guilty. However, the panel of judges determined that the evidence clearly showed that the defendant had committed fraudulent acts in order to appropriate property. Ms. Cao Thi Cuc’s household was determined not to be a legal religious establishment and was not allowed to organize religious activities. The residents here were not monks and nuns and the act of receiving donations was not transparent.

The panel of judges concluded that the indictment was in accordance with the law, the defendant had aggravating circumstances such as committing the crime multiple times, against an elderly person, not being sincere and not having remedied the consequences.

The court sentenced Le Thanh Nhat Nguyen to 9 years in prison. Combined with 4 years from the previous sentence, the total sentence the defendant must serve is 13 years in prison. At the same time, the defendant must return all the money he embezzled to the victims.

Related to other violations at "Bong Lai Monastery"

Previously, in July 2022, Nhat Nguyen, Hoan Nguyen and several others were sentenced to prison for abusing democratic freedoms to post false content and defamation of individuals and organizations on social networks. The verdict determined that the videos produced by this group from 2019 to 2021 contained false content, negatively affecting public opinion and insulting local authorities.

Mr. Le Tung Van, the group leader, was sentenced to 5 years in prison in 2022. Recently, on May 21, Duc Hoa District People's Court continued to sentence him to 3 more years in prison in another case, bringing the total sentence to 8 years in prison.

The terrifying secret behind the Bong Lai Sanctuary: Grandfather, son Hoàng Phúc20:12:49 05/05/2025On May 4, news from the People's Court of Long An province said that this agency had assigned the People's Court of Duc Hoa Province to try in the first instance 2 cases of incest and fraudulent appropriation of property, which occurred at the house called Tinh That Bong Lai