Latest news with #Vietnamese-born
Sydney Morning Herald
14-05-2025
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘You are, at the end of the day, a con man': Facebook fraudster jailed
A con man who posed as a tradie on social media and swindled almost $500,000 from victims has been jailed. Hong Thanh Dang Tran pleaded guilty in Brisbane District Court to 30 fraud charges on Wednesday. Dang Tran, 45, defrauded people between April 2022 and November 2023 after offering building and renovation services via Facebook, prosecutors told the court. He used different names and phone numbers, on some occasions even using business cards belonging to licensed builders, the court was told. The Vietnamese-born Australian citizen received payments from 30 people and either did not complete promised work or begin it entirely. In some instances, Dang Tran introduced complainants to his family to build a rapport. On other occasions he made 'vague' threats asking for further money when challenged by victims, prosecutors said. Dang Tran received $452,000 from his victims and made some partial repayments just shy of $42,000. He was arrested on November 17, 2023 and has been in custody since, appearing in court for Wednesday's sentencing.
The Age
14-05-2025
- The Age
‘You are, at the end of the day, a con man': Facebook fraudster jailed
A con man who posed as a tradie on social media and swindled almost $500,000 from victims has been jailed. Hong Thanh Dang Tran pleaded guilty in Brisbane District Court to 30 fraud charges on Wednesday. Dang Tran, 45, defrauded people between April 2022 and November 2023 after offering building and renovation services via Facebook, prosecutors told the court. He used different names and phone numbers, on some occasions even using business cards belonging to licensed builders, the court was told. The Vietnamese-born Australian citizen received payments from 30 people and either did not complete promised work or begin it entirely. In some instances, Dang Tran introduced complainants to his family to build a rapport. On other occasions he made 'vague' threats asking for further money when challenged by victims, prosecutors said. Dang Tran received $452,000 from his victims and made some partial repayments just shy of $42,000. He was arrested on November 17, 2023 and has been in custody since, appearing in court for Wednesday's sentencing.
Perth Now
14-05-2025
- Perth Now
'Calculated' con man jailed after posing as builder
A con man who posed as a tradie on social media and swindled almost $500,000 from victims has been jailed. Hong Thanh Dang Tran pleaded guilty in Brisbane District Court to 30 fraud charges on Wednesday. Dang Tran, 45, defrauded people between April 2022 and November 2023 after offering building and renovation services via Facebook, prosecutors told the court. He used different names and phone numbers, on some occasions even using business cards belonging to licensed builders, the court was told. The Vietnamese-born Australian citizen received payments from 30 people and either did not complete promised work or begin it entirely. In some instances, Dang Tran introduced complainants to his family to build a rapport. On other occasions he made "vague" threats asking for further money when challenged by victims, prosecutors said. Dang Tran received $452,000 from his victims and made some partial repayments just shy of $42,000. He was arrested on November 17, 2023 and has been in custody since, appearing in court for Wednesday's sentencing. Prosecutors asked Judge Tony Moynihan for six years' imprisonment which defence counsel did not contest. Counsel representing Dang Tran said the severity of his offending was not lost on him and he accepted it was "calculated and egregious" in nature. In sentencing remarks, Judge Moynihan said Dang Tran was not qualified or insured and that his advertisements were misleading. "You deployed tactics to encourage the complainants to trust you," he said. "You are, at the end of the day, a con man." Dang Tran was jailed for six years. He will be eligible for parole on November 16, 2025 after 544 days time served in pre-sentence custody.
The Star
22-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Star
Ray Lui, 70, shares secrets to staying youthful, says his biological age is 39
Ray Lui attributes his youthful state to consistent diet and exercise. Photo: Ray Lui/Instagram Hong Kong actor Ray Lui is known for his age-defying looks. Recently, he shared his secrets to his youthful health on Chinese social media Xiaohongshu. Although officially 70 this year, Lui says in the post that his biological age is only 39 – a claim backed by a recent methylation test. According to Lui, as translated by Dimsum Daily, the test showed his cardiovascular age at 43, his immune system at 44, and his endocrine system at 39, giving him an overall biological age of 39.9. Addressing speculation that cosmetic treatments might be behind his youthful appearance, the Vietnamese-born star said that lasting wellness comes from within. 'Cosmetic treatments only enhance the exterior,' he said. 'I strive for a vibrant energy that radiates from the inside.' He achieves this by maintaining a consistent diet and regular exercise routine. The TVB's Born Rich actor pointed to two key foods in his anti-ageing routine. First, he praised onions as 'smart vegetables' for their role in promoting gut health by targeting harmful bacteria while supporting beneficial ones. He noted that onions, rich in quercetin, offer anti-inflammatory benefits that help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, prevent Alzheimer's, fight cancer and regulate blood sugar. Second, Lui swears by his homemade 'detox energy soup', inspired by Japanese wellness trends. The drink includes raw ingredients like bitter melon, cucumber, radish, apple and lemon – blended without cooking to preserve enzymes, vitamins and minerals. He also shared additional lifestyle habits that contribute to his health, such as eating breakfast slowly, engaging in regular physical activity (especially leg exercises), and cutting down on animal products. For mental wellness, Lui – who is married to to Hong Kong singer Cally Kwong – focuses on maintaining a loving home environment and recommends avoiding heavy dinners to promote better sleep. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ray Lui 呂良偉 (@rayluileungwai)
New York Times
25-02-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Inside the Eccentric Japanese-Inspired Studio of a Beloved Berlin Artist
Entertaining With shows how a party came together, with expert advice on everything from menus to music. Despite recent waves of gentrification, Berlin is still a city full of artists. While some (including Wolfgang Tillmans and Katharina Grosse) are world-renowned, it's another cast of characters who keep the city strange and unpredictable. There's the avant-garde choreographer Florentina Holzinger, for example, known for staging operas with plentiful fake blood, and the 82-year-old fashion knitwear designer Claudia Skoda, who's often seen out at nightclubs. Then there's the artist Oliver Prestele, 52, who can be spotted around town wearing fluffy dog-hair hats and giant wooden clogs. Long obsessed with all aspects of traditional Japanese culture, he is one of the city's most passionate ceramists, a co-owner of some of its most successful Japanese restaurants and a gatherer of people. At the weekly Sunday dinners he hosts at his atelier, one might meet any number of creative Berliners, from the Vietnamese-born Danish artist Danh Vo to the German Japanese classical violinist and artist Ayumi Paul. Located in the Uferhallen, a canal-side complex of artists' studios in the developing Wedding neighborhood, Prestele's 2,000-square-foot, two-floor space contains a glassed-in room that he uses as a ceramics studio and a large open kitchen and fermentation laboratory lined with plants and pottery. Last year, he made soba noodles there every Sunday until he was satisfied that they were perfect. On the second-floor mezzanine, he's installed an irori, a traditional Japanese sunken hearth, where he sometimes cooks nabe, Japanese hot pot. Born and raised in a small village in Bavaria, Prestele moved to Berlin in the 1990s to study product design at the Berlin University of the Arts, where one of his professors, a Japanese sculptor, instilled in him a fascination with Japan. After leaving university, he traveled to that country as often as he could, obsessively teaching himself to cook ramen. In 2001, he built a wooden ramen cart and began serving noodles in different spaces around Berlin's then-gritty Mitte neighborhood. 'Everything about it was illegal,' he says. He soon began catering for photographers including Peter Lindbergh, and in the mid 2000s, Prestele partnered with the Vietnamese restaurateur Ngu Quang Huy to open the ramen restaurant Cocolo, which now has two locations. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
