Vietnamese Billionaire Sentenced to Death Tries to Buy Time-Paying Back Millions to Avoid Execution
Truong My Lan, a well-known Vietnamese real estate tycoon, is at the center of the country's largest-ever financial fraud case. Sentenced to death for embezzling over $12 billion, she is now making a last-ditch effort to repay part of the stolen money in hopes of having her sentence reduced and avoiding execution.
🏦 Billion-Dollar Scam – Now She's Trying to Pay It Back
According to her lawyer Giang Hong Thanh, Lan is prioritizing repayment to investors and then working on restoring funds tied to her death sentence. She has reportedly begun liquidating assets and aims to recover over 15 trillion dong ($585 million) from bond profits.
“She began working on repayments right after the first ruling,” Thanh said.
🧍♀️ From Market Stalls to Real Estate Empire – Then a Dramatic Fall
Born in Ho Chi Minh City, Lan started out selling cosmetics at a street market with her mother. After Vietnam’s economic reforms in 1986, she entered the real estate sector — and struck gold. By the 1990s, she had built a portfolio of hotels and restaurants.
In 2024, as head of Van Thinh Phat Group, she was arrested for orchestrating a vast financial scheme involving Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB).
Death Penalty for Embezzlement and Money Laundering
In April 2024, Lan was sentenced to death after being found guilty of embezzling $12.3 billion from SCB over a ten-year period through fraudulent loan applications. These loans made up 93% of the bank’s total lending, leading to massive losses for thousands of investors.
Although Lan held no official executive title at SCB, the court found she controlled over 91% of the bank’s shares via a complex web of relatives, associates, and shell companies.
Government Response: Massive Bailout and Market Shock
According to Bloomberg, Vietnam’s central bank had to inject $24 billion into SCB to stabilize the bank, followed by another $26 billion to be repaid over 15 years.
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