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Real estate tycoon Truong My Lan was sentenced to death on Thursday by a court in Ho Chi Minh City in the country's largest financial fraud case ever. The 67-year-old chair of Van Thinh Phat, a prominent real estate company, stood accused of a massive fraud scheme totalling $12.5 billion, nearly 3% of Vietnam's GDP in 2022.
Lan reportedly controlled the Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank illegally between 2012 to 2022 to siphon off funds amounting to 304 trillion dong ($12.5 billion) through thousands of ghost companies and by paying bribes to government officials. Lan's arrest in October 2022 was among the most high-profile in an ongoing anti-corruption drive in Vietnam that has intensified since 2022.
