Truong My Lan, a 67-year-old Vietnamese businesswoman and real estate tycoon, was sentenced to death by a court in Ho Chi Minh City for orchestrating a $12.5 billion fraud scheme that led to $27 billion in losses for Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank. Despite being a first-time offender and engaging in charity work, her involvement in a sophisticated criminal enterprise with significant consequences warranted the severe sentence. Her niece received a 17-year prison term, and her husband, who is from Hong Kong, was sentenced to nine years.
Vietnamese property tycoon Truong My Lan has been sentenced to death in Vietnam for embezzling billions of dollars.
Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, and 85 others, including former central bankers and ex-government officials, face trial verdicts in Ho Chi Minh City for embezzling $1.25 billion from Saigon Commercial Bank. Lan denies charges and prosecutors seek the death penalty. The case is part of a national corruption crackdown affecting Vietnam's business elite. Lan's arrest led to protests in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Police have identified 42,000 victims in the scandal, where Lan is accused of setting up fake loan applications to withdraw money from SCB.
Trương Mỹ Lan (Chinese: 張美蘭; born 1958 or 1957) is a Vietnamese businesswoman of Chinese heritage. She is the founder of Van Thinh Phat Group, a real estate development group. In October 2022 she was arrested for fake loan applications to embezzle more than $12.5 billion from Sai Gon Joint Stock Commercial Bank, which she controlled through more than 2 dozen middlemen. This caused a bank run.In March 2024, the trial for embezzlement, bribery, and violating banking regulations began. It is considered the largest corruption scandal in Southeast Asia's history. On April 11 she was sentenced to death.
Kim Taylor, a woman of Vietnamese descent, was sentenced to four months in prison for committing fraudulent voting and providing false information in registering and voting to generate votes for her husband's unsuccessful congressional bid in Iowa's 4th Congressional District. Her husband, Jeremy Taylor, was identified as an unindicted co-conspirator. Instances of voter fraud are rare, with cases like Crystal Mason's overturned sentence in Texas. The judge acknowledged Kim Taylor's primary caretaking role and lack of criminal record, leading to a lighter sentence. Voter fraud remains a contentious issue in the US political landscape.
Imprisoned Vietnamese author and activist Pham Doan Trang, known for criticizing the Vietnamese government and advocating for democratic reform, will be honored with the PEN America's Barbey Freedom to Write Award. Trang, 45, was arrested in 2020 on state propaganda charges and sentenced to nine years in prison. Despite government persecution, her writings on democracy, human rights, and women's empowerment continue to inspire people worldwide. The award will be accepted on her behalf during PEN's annual gala by her lawyer and a friend. Previous recipients include Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi and Ukrainian journalist Vladyslav Yesypenko.
Sai Gon Joint Stock Commercial Bank, or Saigon Commercial Bank, abbreviated as SCB, is the largest commercial bank in Vietnam by assets, founded in 2012 and headquartered in Ho Chi Minh City. It was founded by the fusion of 3 small banks and was controlled by businesswoman and real estate developer Trương Mỹ Lan. From 2012 until 2022 SCB issued Lan 93% of its loan portfolio, more than 2,500 loans worth over $44 billion.Her defrauding $11.5 billion and corruption is considered the largest fraud scandal in Southeast Asia's history and led to her arrest in 2022, causing a bank run. The bank is since under state control.
Kim Taylor, the wife of an Iowa county supervisor, was sentenced to four months in jail for voter fraud after approaching voters of Vietnamese heritage with limited English comprehension and filling out election forms and ballots on their behalf to support her husband's unsuccessful congressional campaign. Her husband, Jeremy Taylor, who was not charged but named as an unindicted co-conspirator, ultimately won election to the Woodbury County Board of Supervisors despite finishing third in the 2020 race for the Republican nomination in Iowa's 4th District congressional seat.
The State Bank of Vietnam (Vietnamese: Ngân hàng Nhà nước Việt Nam) is the central bank of Vietnam. It currently holds an about 65% stake of VietinBank, the country's largest listed bank by capital.In 2024, a former State Bank of Vietnam official accused of accepting $5.2 million in bribes faced trial in conjunction with the 2022 arrest of Trương Mỹ Lan and the near failure of Sai Gon Joint Stock Commercial Bank.
Fox News
The Huffington Post
NPR
Business Insider
ABC News
ABC News
Yahoo! News
https://apnews.com/author/aniruddha-ghosal
PANORA
PANORA
Wikipedia
PANORA
PANORA
Wikipedia
PANORA
Wikipedia