World Truong My Lan: Vietnamese billionaire sentenced to death for $44bn fraud

[The Helper]

It was the most spectacular trial ever held in Vietnam, befitting one of the greatest bank frauds the world has ever seen.

Behind the stately yellow portico of the colonial-era courthouse in Ho Chi Minh City, a 67-year-old Vietnamese property developer was sentenced to death on Thursday for looting one of the country's largest banks over a period of 11 years.

It's a rare verdict - she is one of very few women in Vietnam to be sentenced to death for a white collar crime.

The decision is a reflection of the dizzying scale of the fraud. Truong My Lan was convicted of taking out $44bn (£35bn) in loans from the Saigon Commercial Bank. The verdict requires her to return $27bn, a sum prosecutors said may never be recovered. Some believe the death penalty is the court's way of trying to encourage her to return some of the missing billions.

The habitually secretive communist authorities were uncharacteristically forthright about this case, going into minute detail for the media. They said 2,700 people were summoned to testify, while 10 state prosecutors and around 200 lawyers were involved.

Truong My Lan: Vietnamese billionaire sentenced to death for $44bn fraud

Truong My Lan started life as a market trader. Now, she has been convicted of stealing billions.

www.bbc.com

 

[The Helper]

What to know about the real estate tycoon sentenced to death in Vietnam’s largest fraud case

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — A Vietnamese real estate tycoon was sentenced to death Thursday in the country’s biggest ever financial fraud case, a shocking development in an intensifying anti-corruption drive in the southeast Asian nation.

Truong My Lan, a high-profile businesswoman who chaired a sprawling company that developed luxury apartments, hotels, offices and shopping malls, was arrested in 2022. The 67-year-old was formally charged with fraud amounting to $12.5 billion –- nearly 3% of the country’s 2022 GDP.

Death sentences are not uncommon in Vietnam, but it is rare in financial crime cases and for someone this well known.

Here is a look at the key details of the case:

What to know about the real estate tycoon sentenced to death in Vietnam's largest fraud case

Truong My Lan, a high-profile businesswoman who chaired a sprawling company that developed luxury apartments, offices and shopping malls, was arrested in 2022.

apnews.com