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Vietnamese Tycoon Appeals Death Sentence In $27 Billion Fraud Case

Photo: Truong My Lan/Instagram 

The appeal of Vietnamese real estate tycoon Truong My Lan, 68, who was sentenced to death for a $27 billion fraud, started on Monday. Lan, who asked for a "lenient and humane" sentence, was found guilty of scamming the Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB), leading to huge financial losses for thousands of people who had invested their savings in the bank.

Lan, wearing a blue shirt, arrived in a Ho Chi Minh City courtroom under tight security for the appeal, which is expected to last three weeks. Along with her request to reduce the death sentence, Lan has also asked to waive a $26.5 million court fee. Forty-seven other defendants in this case are also appealing their sentences, and 100 lawyers are involved in the proceedings.

This fraud scandal, one of Vietnam's biggest, shocked the country. The case has stirred public anger, leading to rare protests, with victims demanding that their lost money be returned.

Photo: Truong My Lan/Instagram 

Lan explained in a five-page handwritten appeal that she was motivated by a "passion for business and the desire to build world-class projects" for Vietnam. She claimed to have sacrificed personal happiness for her work and said she feels "tormented" by her situation.

The case against Lan revealed that, between 2012 and 2022, she used nearly 1,300 fake loan applications to withdraw money from SCB, where she owned a 90% stake. Police found that Lan’s driver transported about $4.4 billion in cash from the bank to her home and her company offices.

In her first trial, Lan was found guilty of stealing $12.5 billion, but prosecutors stated the total losses were closer to $27 billion — around six percent of Vietnam’s 2023 GDP. The court ordered her to repay nearly the entire amount.

The appeal follows Lan’s life sentence in a separate money laundering case last month. As part of a national anti-corruption effort, 85 other people were also sentenced on charges such as bribery and abuse of power.

One victim, 84-year-old Le Hang, said she lost over half a million dollars in the fraud but does not want Lan to die. "She must live to fix what she has done and repay people like me," Hang said. Source: Fortune 

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