Vietnamese beauty queen Hoàng Thanh Nga indicted in transnational diamond smuggling case

Hoàng Thị Thanh Nga, the former first‑runner‑up of the 2022 Mrs Universe competition and director of the NCA Investment Co. that runs the Ngọc Châu Âu luxury jewelry brand, was indicted on 12 July 2026 by the Thanh Hóa Provincial Police as part of the expanded “Special Crime 268V” investigation.

The probe has so far charged 31 suspects, seized 1,239 diamonds and other jewelry, and estimates the illicit profit of the ring at more than 300 billion VND. Authorities say the syndicate imported up to 30,000 diamonds—chiefly from Hong Kong and via an Indian contact—using encrypted apps such as WhatsApp and Viber, concealing the stones in personal luggage at international airports. Transactions were disguised by matching serial numbers on U.S. banknotes rather than standard banking channels.

A separate media note highlighted that the scandal mirrors a storyline in the Vietnamese film “Mesdames Thanh Sắc,” in which Hoàng Thanh Nga appears as a cameo investor in a fictional diamond‑smuggling plot.