A court in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, has handed down a death sentence to a prominent real estate tycoon, Truong My Lan, following the country's largest financial fraud case to date. The 67-year-old chair of Van Thinh Phat, a leading real estate company, was found guilty of orchestrating a massive fraud scheme amounting to $12.5 billion, which equates to nearly 3% of Vietnam's 2022 GDP.
Lan was accused of illegally controlling the Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank from 2012 to 2022, using the institution to siphon off funds through a network of ghost companies and by bribing government officials. Her arrest in October 2022 marked a significant development in Vietnam's ongoing anti-corruption campaign, known as the Blazing Furnace, which has targeted high-ranking officials and business figures.
