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 ever, state media Thanh Nien said. The 67-year-old chair of the 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 to siphon of these funds through thousands of ghost companies and by paying bribes to government officials. 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.