Vietnam Seeks Billions by Selling Luxury Assets
World
Vietnamese authorities have begun seizing and selling the assets of convicted businesswoman Truong My Lan in an effort to recover losses from massive financial fraud. The assets include luxury real estate, a yacht and two crocodile-skin Hermès Birkin bags.
Truong My Lan is serving a life sentence in one of the largest financial crime cases in the world. The court ordered her to pay $27 billion in compensation.
This week, Ho Chi Minh City’s civil judgment enforcement agency said it is seeking experts to assess the value of the two Birkin bags before they are sold. Meanwhile, her luxury yacht is scheduled to be auctioned next month with a starting price of 49.3 billion Vietnamese dong (about $1.9 million).
In April 2024, the court found that Truong My Lan had secretly controlled Saigon Commercial Bank — the country’s fifth-largest lender — for more than a decade and illegally obtained loans and cash totaling around $44 billion through a network of shell companies.
Prosecutors said $27 billion was misappropriated, while another $12 billion was classified as embezzlement, making the case one of the biggest financial crimes in history and the most high-profile case in Vietnam’s anti-corruption campaign.
Initially sentenced to death, Truong My Lan later had her sentence commuted to life imprisonment in June 2024 after Vietnam abolished the death penalty for certain crimes. She has denied all charges.
This week, Ho Chi Minh City’s civil judgment enforcement agency said it is seeking experts to assess the value of the two Birkin bags before they are sold. Meanwhile, her luxury yacht is scheduled to be auctioned next month with a starting price of 49.3 billion Vietnamese dong (about $1.9 million).
In April 2024, the court found that Truong My Lan had secretly controlled Saigon Commercial Bank — the country’s fifth-largest lender — for more than a decade and illegally obtained loans and cash totaling around $44 billion through a network of shell companies.
Prosecutors said $27 billion was misappropriated, while another $12 billion was classified as embezzlement, making the case one of the biggest financial crimes in history and the most high-profile case in Vietnam’s anti-corruption campaign.
Initially sentenced to death, Truong My Lan later had her sentence commuted to life imprisonment in June 2024 after Vietnam abolished the death penalty for certain crimes. She has denied all charges.
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