Property tycoon Truong My Lan had her sentence for bond fraud and other crimes commuted Monday from life imprisonment to 30 years as the court took cognizance of her efforts to compensate victims.
The People’s High Court of Ho Chi Minh City reduced the sentence handed by the first instance court in October for frauds she committed at Saigon Commercial Bank and her property development company Van Thinh Phat from life to 20 years.
It upheld her sentences for two other crimes: 12 years for money laundering and eight years for illegal cross-border money transfers. The combined sentence is 30 years.
Lan, however, got the death sentence for embezzling Saigon Commercial Bank last year in an appeal court.
But the court pointed out that the law allows a death sentence to be commuted to life if the convicted person recompenses three fourths of the losses they caused.
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Property tycoon Truong My Lan seen at an appeal court in in Ho Chi Minh City in April 2025. Photo by VnExpress/Thanh Tung |
On Monday the judges said Lan had used her assets and paid compensation to victims of her VND30-trillion (US$1.2 billion) bond fraud.
Authorities have confiscated VND8.6 trillion from Lan, and will likely collect another VND15 trillion soon by liquidating other assets she owns.
She also owns VND21 trillion in securities.
The court said there is a possibility of collecting a “very large” sum of money from Lan to compensate victims.
In April last year she and her accomplices were found guilty of embezzling from SCB and causing it a loss of VND677 trillion (US$27 billion) over the course of a decade.
