Court upholds death sentence for property tycoon in $27 bln bank fraud

The appeal court for the first phase of the case involving property developer Van Thinh Phat Group and Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank (SCB) on December 3 kept the death sentence unchanged for Truong My Lan, former Chairwoman of the group, the Vietnam News Agency has reported.

In the first-instance trial, Lan received a life sentence for "embezzlement,” 20 years in prison for "bribery" and 16 years for "violating lending regulations in credit institution activities," with the combined sentence being the death penalty.

The court upheld the requirement for Lan to compensate SCB for 1,243 outstanding loans as of October 17, 2022, amounting to VND673.8 trillion ($26.52 billion).

Recent statistics indicated that at least 42,000 victims, who had invested in Van Thinh Phat bonds offered by the bank, suffered substantial financial losses, resulting in nationwide shock and unprecedented protests from affected individuals.