Convicted Vietnamese billionaire moves to sell property to avoid execution

By Berk Kutay Gokmen

ISTANBUL (AA)— A Vietnamese billionaire convicted in the country’s largest-ever financial fraud is seeking to avoid the death penalty by repaying the stolen funds, her lawyer said on Tuesday, according to the South China Morning Post.

A court in Ho Chi Minh City upheld the death sentence of property tycoon Truong My Lan on Dec. 3, rejecting her appeal in a case involving more than $12 billion in bank fraud.

While the court found no grounds to reduce her sentence, it said she could avoid execution if she repaid three-quarters of the embezzled amount.

Lan, in a letter to a state-controlled committee overseeing her assets, expressed willingness to help recover the money.

“I could turn most of the assets into a golden goose so that the state can recover the costs,” she wrote, pleading to be allowed to participate in the process, according to her lawyer, Giang Hong Thanh.

Lan was sentenced to death in October 2024 for her role in a decade-long fraud scheme at Saigon Commercial Bank, where she and her accomplices were found guilty of massive embezzlement and causing multibillion-dollar losses.

The case has received national and international attention due to its scale and severity, and it is widely regarded as the world's largest bank fraud.