On April 21, after nearly a month of hearings and deliberation, the High People's Court in Ho Chi Minh City issued its final ruling in the second phase of the Van Thinh Phat case.

Despite a sentence reduction in one charge, Truong My Lan remains under a consolidated death sentence and must pay 31 billion VND (approximately 1.2 million USD) in court fees.

No basis for appeal, court finds

Lan and her legal team appealed for a lighter sentence, claiming she never intended to defraud investors. However, the court rejected this, citing her position as Chairwoman of Van Thinh Phat Group and her direct control over SCB Bank’s operations.

Investigators confirmed that Lan used four Van Thinh Phat subsidiaries (An Dong, Quang Thuan, Sunny World, and Setra) to issue 25 fictitious bond packages without collateral.

She also ordered subordinates to sever financial trails and misappropriate over 30 trillion VND (1.2 billion USD) from more than 35,000 investors - establishing clear grounds for the charge of “fraudulent appropriation of assets.”

Money laundering and illegal money transfers

To conceal the illicit origins of 445 trillion VND (approximately 18 billion USD) acquired from embezzling SCB funds and issuing fraudulent bonds, Lan instructed subordinates to withdraw and divert funds for various uses.

According to the court, over 8 trillion VND has been recovered so far. This excludes assets, shares, and stakes in ongoing projects, which authorities are still tracing.

Acknowledging Lan's remorse and efforts to mitigate damages, the court agreed to reduce her sentence for “fraudulent appropriation” from life to 20 years. She was also sentenced to 8 years for “illegal cross-border money transfers” and 12 years for “money laundering.”

Combined, her new sentence for these charges totals 30 years in prison. However, when merged with her earlier death sentence from phase one of the case, the final penalty remains death.

Other notable sentences

Tran Thi My Dung: 5 years for fraud, 7 years for money laundering; combined with a prior 15-year sentence, she must serve 27 years.

Truong Hue Van: 3 years for fraud; combined with her earlier 13-year sentence, she must serve 16 years.

Chu Lap Co: Despite no appeal, his sentence was reduced from 2 years to 1 year for money laundering; combined with a 7-year sentence from phase one, he must serve 8 years.

Vo Tan Hoang Van and Bui Anh Dung: Appeals denied; sentences upheld.

Several other defendants received sentence reductions of 9 months to 2 years.

Lan’s request to waive court fees was denied. She is required to pay 31 billion VND in legal fees.

Elaborate financial schemes exposed

Court documents reveal that from 2012 to 2022, Lan and her accomplices conducted illegal cross-border fund transfers totaling over 4.5 billion USD (106 trillion VND).

They fabricated contracts for fake share purchases and capital contributions between Van Thinh Phat subsidiaries and shell companies to move funds out of and into Vietnam through SCB.

The fake bonds, totaling over 30.8 trillion VND, lacked collateral. As of the verdict, outstanding debt stood at 30.08 trillion VND, with no capacity for repayment - a financial disaster impacting tens of thousands of investors.

Thanh Phuong