Real estate tycoon sentenced to death for fraud faces trial on new charges

Truong My Lan, a real estate tycoon sentenced to death for financial fraud, attends her second trial in Vietnam’s largest fraud case in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (Thanh Tung/AP)

The second trial for Vietnamese real estate typcoon Truong My Lan who was sentenced to death for financial fraud in April started on Thursday, state media reported.

The 67-year-old chair of the real estate company Van Thinh Phat was convicted for orchestrating Vietnam’s biggest ever financial fraud case, amounting to 12.5 billion dollars (£9.4 billion) — nearly 3% of the country’s 2022 GDP and for illegally controlling a major bank allowing loans that resulted in losses of 27 billion dollars (£20.3 billion), state media said.