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Convicted billionaire could avoid death sentence by paying $9 billion

The 68-year-old billionaire lost her appeal in a fraud case for the embezzlement of $12 billion.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Vietnamese property tycoon Truong My Lan, who was was convicted of one of the largest frauds in history, may get out of her death sentence if she pays $9 billion, CNN reported.

The 68-year-old lost her appeal in a fraud case for the embezzlement of $12 billion–comprising 3% of Vietnam’s economy.

Lan was put on death row by a Ho Chi Minh City court in April, but judges have indicated that she could commute her death sentence to life in prison if she pays back 3/4 of the money she stole–$9 billion.

Lan began her career selling cosmetics, but she met Hong Kong investor Eric Chu. After marrying Chu in 1992, she set up the real-estate company Van Thinh Phat.

In 2011, Lan became involved in a merger between Saigon Joint Commercial Bank (SCB) and two other lenders.

Lan was arrested in 2022 when a connection was made between the activities of SCB and her financial crimes.

Although Lan seemed to own just 5% of SCB’s shares, the maximum allowed, it was discovered that, unofficially, she owned 91.5% of the bank.

Over the years, Lan bribed regulators to keep her crimes under wraps and, along with accomplices, embezzled money amounting to $44 billion through fake loans and transfers to thousands of shell companies.

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Lan and 85 other accomplices were arrested for embezzling $12 billion, dwarfing major financial scandals, including Sam Bankman-Fried’s $8 billion fraud.

Nguyen Khac Giang, visiting fellow at the Vietnam Studies Programme of the ISEAS—Yusof Ishak Institute, told CNN that Lan’s death sentence indicates Vietnam’s seriousness about combating corruption.

“When you have corruption of this scale, it signals that things are bad in the country because it means legislation is not good, supervision is not good, and the financial system is actually quite vulnerable,” Giang said.

In a plea for mercy, Lan insisted she never intended to commit fraud, but she was willing to accept a penalty for her crime.