Vietnam sentences real estate tycoon Truong My Lan to death in its largest-ever fraud case

By ANIRUDDHA GHOSAL
Associated Press

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — A Vietnam court has sentenced real estate tycoon Truong My Lan to death in the country’s largest financial fraud case. The 67-year-old chair of real estate company Van Thinh Phat was accused of fraud amounting to $12.5 billion — nearly 3% of the country’s 2022 GDP. She illegally controlled the Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank between 2012 to 2022, siphoning off funds through thousands of ghost companies and bribes to government officials. State media VnExpress reported Lan allowed 2,500 loans that resulted in losses of $27 billion to the bank, and must compensate SCB. The so-called Blazing Furnace campaign has touched the highest echelons of Vietnamese politics. Last month, former President Vo Van Thuong resigned after being implicated in the campaign.