Vietnam upholds Truong My Lan’s death sentence over US$12 billion fraud

But total damages caused by the fraud may have hit US$27 billion, according to prosecutors, leaving tens of thousands of ordinary citizens stripped of their life savings that were tied up in the bank and her real estate company.

Arrested in 2022, Lan was also found guilty of bribing state officials and money laundering.

The scandal was so large that it undermined faith in the country’s banking sector and forced Vietnam’s central bank to prop up SCB, which had bankrolled Lan through a web of nominee companies for over a decade.

Prosecutors argued that, despite holding only 5 per cent of the bank’s shares on paper, Lan had effectively become its sole controller.