Death row property tycoon Truong My Lan charged with laundering $17.5B illegal money

The majority of it, 93%, had come from embezzling money from Saigon Commercial Bank and defrauding 35,000 bond investors, the Supreme People’s Procuracy, the prosecutor’s office, said.

To prevent authorities from tracking the money, she got accomplices to help.

Among them was Nguyen Phuong Anh, deputy CEO of Saigon Peninsula, who asked individuals to come to SCB and sign cash withdrawal forms.

Then the cash would be given to Lan’s personal driver, Bui Van Dung, to take it to her.

Lan also instructed the SCB management to open accounts in other people’s names and transfer the illegal money back and forth between them.

Eventually the VND445.70 trillion was used to transfer to individuals, pay debts, invest in projects, pay bond interest, and transfer overseas.

In September 2023 Vietnam police sought assistance from their counterparts in British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands and Hong Kong to identify the connection between 11 foreign organizations and Lan and her husband Eric Chu.

But they have yet to get that information.

Chu is accused of helping Lan launder VND33.3 billion and has admitted to the crime.

Apart from money laundering, Lan is also accused of fraudulent appropriation of assets (through bond issuances) and illegal cross-border currency trafficking.

Thirty three individuals have been charged with similar crimes.

Lan has already been given the death penalty for causing a loss of VND677 trillion ($27 billion) to SCB, a verdict she has appealed.