Vietnamese-American jailed for 11 years for attempting to traffic 3 children to US

A Vietnamese-American man was sentenced to 11 years in prison for "purchasing" three children through online groups and forging birth certificates and DNA test results for taking them to the United States.

Tran Nhuan Gia, also known as Wong Danny Gia, 52, was convicted Thursday by the Family and Juvenile Court at the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court for "trafficking persons under 16 years old."

Seven others got 11-12 years for the same crime.

Tran Thi Cam Tu, 35, was sentenced to 13.5 years for "trafficking persons under 16" and "forging documents of agencies and organizations."

Defendant Tran Thuan Gia (front row, right) and his accomplices at a court in HCMC, June 18, 2026. Photo by VnExpress/Hai Duyen

The trial was held in camera since the victims are minors.

Gia joined online "adoption" groups on social media to find women unable to raise their children, and hired a man named Doan Le Quoc Huy to act as an intermediary to contact them and take care of the kids.

Prosecutors said between 2023 and 2025, Gia got three children in this manner. They were born between 2018 and May 2024.

He agreed to pay a woman VND40 million for her baby boy born in 2018, but only paid VND13 million, got a newborn for VND45 million and a then two-year-old boy for VND35 million.

The children were taken to Gia's apartment in District 10 (now Dien Hong Ward), where they were cared for while preparations were made to send them to the United States.

On May 22, 2024, after receiving a tip-off that several children of unknown origin were being cared for at the apartment, police inspected the premises and found the three children with two caregivers.

They arrested Gia and Huy, expanded the investigation and summoned others suspected to be involved, including Tu.

Authorities determined that besides the three children they procured for Gia, Tu and her group also arranged adoptions for two other childless families for fees payments of VND35 million and VND45 million.

Plan to take children to US foiled

The prosecution said Gia was not eligible to adopt children but exploited the system to commit the offenses.

To legitimize custody and prepare immigration documents, Gia had a fake birth certificates made for the child born in 2018, listing himself as the father. He got Tu to forge a DNA test result for the two-year-old child and also had a fake birth certificate made, but did not collect it before his arrest. As for the remaining child, he was still in the process of completing fake paperwork.

The prosecutors said the purpose of the forged documents was to obtain visas and complete procedures to take the children to the U.S.

Since Gia had not used the fake documents to establish identities, investigators did not pursue criminal charges for the forgery.