Boss of Vietnam’s Van Thinh Phat Condemned to Death for $27B Embezzlement Scheme

The boss of a Vietnam property investment firm was found to have cheated 42,000 investors and sentenced to death in Ho Chi Minh City on Thursday with the government saying her actions led to over VND 677 trillion ($27 billion) in damages.

The People’s Court of Ho Chi Minh City convicted Truong My Lan, founder and chairwoman of developer Van Thinh Phat Group, of embezzling assets, with the defendant having allegedly caused the damages through her behind the scenes control of Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank (SCB). Having been found guilty by a jury, the 67-year-old former cosmetics seller was given the death penalty, according to a government website carrying official notices.

In addition to the property embezzlement charge, Truong was convicted of violating lending regulations and of bribery, with each of those charges carrying penalties of 20 years in prison. The sentencing brought to an end a trial which began on 5 March with Truong having been imprisoned since her arrest in October 2022.

Truong’s husband, Hong Kong businessman Eric Chu, was sentenced to 11 to 12 years in prison for “Violating regulations on lending in the activities of credit institutions,” with numerous other defendants also receiving multi-year sentences.

Convicted on All Counts

Truong, who was convicted on all counts against her, had been formally indicted in December, along with 85 associates and charged with embezzling VND 304 trillion ($12 billion) from SCB. The court on Thursday also sentenced the bank’s former chairman Dinh Van Thanh, who remains at large, to life in prison for embezzlement, with the lender’s former managing director, Vo Tan Hoang Van also given a life sentence.

In the decisions handed down on Thursday, the jury in the case agreed with the prosecution’s case that Truong My Lan appropriated more than VND 677 trillion from SCB while operating as the de facto owner and controller of the bank and its personnel. The official report also stressed that, during the investigation and the trial, Truong remained uncooperative and did not confess to her crimes.

“In my desperation, I thought of death,” Truong was cited as saying by government media. “I am so angry that I was stupid enough to get involved in this very fierce business environment — the banking sector — which I have little knowledge of.”

Truong was found to have used the lender to raise money from institutions and individuals through false methods, with Truong’s group by the time of her arrest having outstanding debts through SCB of nearly VND 484 trillion in principal and over VND 193 trillion in interest which cannot be recovered, the court found.

The businesswoman, along with her husband, is said to have used the funds to establish a property empire which stretched beyond Vietnam into Hong Kong and Singapore, with companies linked to the couple and Van Thinh Phat having liquidated properties since Truong’s 2022 arrest.

Truong was also convicted of paying what was described as Vietnam’s largest bribe ever, a $5.2 million payment to Do Thi Nhan, a former head of the State Bank of Vietnam’s inspection team, who also received a sentence of life in prison.

Regional Liquidation

With the family having acquired commercial buildings around the region, a company registered to Truong and Chu’s daughter, Elizabeth Chu, earlier this year sold the Nexxus Building, an office block in Hong Kong’s Sheung Wan neighborhood to companies controlled by individuals linked to Steve Chang, co-founder and chairman of Tokyo-listed cybersecurity firm Trend Micro, for a reported HK$6.4 billion ($819 million).

In June of 2023 entities controlled by the family sold a hotel in Hong Kong’s Tin Hau area for a reported HK$470 million – a 41 percent discount from what they paid to acquire the property in 2017. Also in June last year, the family sold a house in Hong Kong’s Peak area for HK$300, reportedly for 36 percent less than the acquisition price.

Just over one year ago the Truong-Chu clan sold a development site in Hong Kong’s Quarry Bay area for HK$435 million, with the family still said to own The Wellington office tower on Sheung Wan’s Wellington Street, as well as multiple luxury homes in the Peak and Mid-Levels areas reported to be worth more than HK$2 billion in aggregate.

In Singapore, Viva Land, a local company affiliated with Truong’s Van Thinh Phat Group, during November agreed to sell the Hotel Telegraph along Robinson Road for around S$170 million to S$180 million ($125 to $133 million), with the company incurring an estimated S$70 million loss on the disposal after paying a record S$240 million for the 134-key property in 2022.

In March of last year Viva Land sold 39 Robinson Road in Singapore for S$399 million, with that property also changing hands for less than its purchase price.