Vietnam tycoon sentenced to death in $12 billion fraud case

Reuters. A court in Vietnam on Thursday (April 11) sentenced real estate tycoon Truong My Lan to death over her role in a 304 trillion dong ($12.46 billion) financial fraud case, the country's biggest on record, state media reported.

 

Lan, the chairwoman of real estate developer Van Thinh Phat Holdings Group, was found guilty of embezzlement, bribery and violations of banking rules at the end of a trial in Vietnam's business hub Ho Chi Minh City, according to state media.

 

The trial, which began on March 5 and ended earlier than planned, came as part of a campaign against graft that the leader of the ruling Communist Party, Nguyen Phu Trong, has pledged for years to stamp out.

 

The crackdown, dubbed "blazing furnace", has seen hundreds of senior state officials and high-profile business executives prosecuted or forced to step down. At one point in 2022, Vietnamese stocks suffered a $40 billion wipeout following a series of big corporate arrests, rattling investor confidence at a delicate moment for the fast-growing economy.