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BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityAsiaChinaIndiaTruong My Lan: Vietnamese billionaire sentenced to death for $44bn fraudPublished29 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Truong My Lan is accused of looting one of Vietnam’s largest banks over a period of 11 yearsBy Jonathan Head & Thu BuiIn BangkokIt was the most spectacular trial ever held in Vietnam, befitting one of the greatest bank frauds the world has ever seen. Behind the stately yellow portico of the colonial-era courthouse in Ho Chi Minh City, a 67-year-old Vietnamese property developer was sentenced to death on Thursday for looting one of the country’s largest banks over a period of 11 years.The numbers involved are dizzying. Truong My Lan was convicted for taking out $44bn (£35bn) in loans from the Saigon Commercial Bank. Prosecutors said $27bn may never be recovered.The habitually secretive communist authorities were uncharacteristically forthright about this case, going into minute detail for the media. They said 2,700 people were summoned to testify, while 10 state prosecutors and around 200 lawyers were involved. The evidence was in 104 boxes weighing a total of six tonnes. Eighty-five defendants were tried with Truong My Lan, who denied the charges. “There has never been a show trial like this, I think, in the communist era,” says David Brown, a retired US state department official with long experience in Vietnam. “There has certainly been nothing on this scale.”The trial was the most dramatic chapter so far in the “Blazing Furnaces” anti-corruption campaign led by the Communist Party Secretary-General, Nguyen Phu Trong. A conservative ideologue steeped in Marxist theory, Nguyen Phu Trong believes that popular anger over untamed corruption poses an existential threat to the Communist Party’s monopoly on power. He began the campaign in earnest in 2016 after out-manoeuvring the then pro-business prime minister to retain the top job in the party. Image source, Getty ImagesThe campaign has seen two presidents and two deputy prime ministers forced to resign, and hundreds of officials disciplined or jailed. Now one of the country’s richest women has joined their ranks. Truong My Lan comes from a Sino-Vietnamese family in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon. It has long been the commercial engine of the Vietnamese economy, dating well back to its days as the anti-communist capital of South Vietnam, with a large, ethnic Chinese community. She started as a market stall vendor, selling cosmetics with her mother, but began buying land and property after the Communist Party ushered in a period of economic reform, known as Doi Moi, in 1986. By the 1990s, she owned a large portfolio of hotels and restaurants.Although Vietnam is best known outside the country for its fast-growing manufacturing sector, as an alternative supply chain to China, most wealthy Vietnamese made their money developing and speculating in property. All land is officially state-owned. Getting access to it often relies on personal relationships with state officials. Corruption escalated as the economy grew, and became endemic. By 2011, Truong My Lan was a well-known business figure in Ho Chi Minh City, and she was allowed to arrange the merger of three smaller, cash-strapped banks into a larger entity: Saigon Commercial Bank. Vietnamese law prohibits any individual from holding more than 5% of the shares in any bank. But prosecutors say that through hundreds of shell companies and people acting as her proxies, Truong My Lan actually owned more than 90% of Saigon Commercial. They accused her of using that power to appoint her own people as managers, and then ordering them to approve hundreds of loans to the network of shell companies she controlled.The amounts taken out are staggering. Her loans made up 93% of all the bank’s lending. Vietnam secret document warns of ‘hostile forces’Xi in Vietnam to rekindle a love-hate relationshipUS denies Cold War with China in historic Vietnam visitAccording to prosecutors, over a period of three years from February 2019, she ordered her driver to withdraw 108 trillion Vietnamese dong, more than $4bn (£2.3bn) in cash from the bank, and store it in her basement. That much cash, even if all of it was in Vietnam’s largest denomination banknotes, would weigh two tonnes. She was also accused of bribing generously to ensure her loans were never scrutinised. One of those who was tried used to be a chief inspector at the central bank, who was accused of accepting a $5m bribe.The mass of officially sanctioned publicity about the case channelled public anger over corruption against Truong My Lan, whose haggard, unmade-up appearance in court was in stark contrast to the glamorous publicity photos people had seen of her in the past. But questions are also being asked about why she was able to keep on with the alleged fraud for so long.Image source, Getty Images”I am puzzled,” says Le Hong Hiep who runs the Vietnam Studies Programme at the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore. “Because it wasn’t a secret. It was well known in the market that Truong My Lan and her Van Thinh Phat group were using SCB as their own piggy bank to fund the mass acquisition of real estate in the most prime locations. “It was obvious that she had to get the money from somewhere. But then it is such a common practice. SCB is not the only bank that is used like this. So perhaps the government lost sight because there are so many similar cases in the market.”David Brown believes she was protected by powerful figures who have dominated business and politics in Ho Chi Minh City for decades. And he sees a bigger factor in play in the way this trial is being run: a bid to reassert the authority of the Communist Party over the free-wheeling business culture of the south.”What Nguyen Phu Trong and his allies in the party are trying to do is to regain control of Saigon, or at least stop it from slipping away. “Up until 2016 the party in Hanoi pretty much let this Sino-Vietnamese mafia run the place. They would make all the right noises that local communist leaders are supposed to make, but at the same time they were milking the city for a substantial cut of the money that was being made down there.”At 79 years old, party chief Nguyen Phu Trong is in shaky health, and will almost certainly have to retire at the next Communist Party Congress in 2026, when new leaders will be chosen. He has been one of the longest-serving and most consequential secretary-generals, restoring the authority of the party’s conservative wing to a level not seen since the reforms of the 1980s. He clearly does not want to risk permitting enough openness to undermine the party’s hold on political power. But he is trapped in a contradiction. Under his leadership the party has set an ambitious goal of reaching rich country status by 2045, with a technology and knowledge-based economy. This is what is driving the ever-closer partnership with the United States. Yet faster growth in Vietnam almost inevitably means more corruption. Fight corruption too much, and you risk extinguishing a lot of economic activity. Already there are complaints that bureaucracy has slowed down, as officials shy away from decisions which might implicate them in a corruption case.”That’s the paradox,” says Le Hong Hiep. “Their growth model has been reliant on corrupt practices for so long. Corruption has been the grease that that kept the machinery working. If they stop the grease, things may not work any more.”Related TopicsVietnamAsiaMore on this storyVietnam’s president out after just year in officePublished21 MarchPower shift in Vietnam as president quitsPublished17 January 2023Top StoriesBiden vows ‘ironclad’ support for Israel amid Iran attack fearsPublished10 minutes agoDazzling artwork found at ancient city of PompeiiPublished3 hours agoPressure grows to rethink rough sleeping clampdownPublished9 hours agoFeaturesHow gang violence gripped a tourist havenWhat is the minimum salary UK visa applicants need?Arizona pushes abortion to centre stage of 2024The Papers: ‘Iron clad’ Biden support and ‘radical NHS plan’All you need to know for tonight’s Bafta Games AwardsListen: How will Labour plug the gap in NHS funding?AttributionSoundsWas South Korea’s president thwarted by a spring onion?The Indian men traumatised by fighting for RussiaLocal elections 2024: Is there an election in my area?Elsewhere on the BBCA man from 1979 takes on the modern worldSurely things can’t have changed that much? 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[ad_1] Truong My Lan started life as a market trader. Now, she has been convicted of stealing billions.
![BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityCultureLouis Gossett Jr: First black man to win supporting actor Oscar diesPublished2 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingRelated TopicsThe OscarsImage source, Getty ImagesBy Noor NanjiCulture reporterLouis Gossett Jr, the first black man to win the best supporting actor Oscar, has died at the age of 87.The New York-born actor won the Academy Award in 1982 for his role as Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley in An Officer and a Gentleman.Gossett also won an Emmy in 1978 for his role in Roots, the ground-breaking TV mini-series about slavery.His death was confirmed by his family to the BBC’s US partner CBS. No cause of death was given.Gossett made his Broadway debut as a teenager and later starred in shows such as A Raisin in the Sun and Golden Boy.He went on to gain critical acclaim across a six-decade career.Gossett continued acting into later life and his last role was in the 2023 musical remake of The Color Purple.In the film, a reimagining of Alice Walker’s 1982 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, he played Ol’ Mister Johnson, father of Albert “Mister” Johnson, played by Colman Domingo.Writing on Instagram, Domingo called him “a true great. A true legend”.”What an honour to have been able to give him his flowers on his last day of his final film The Color Purple where he played my father,” he wrote.”Fantasia [Barrino] sang it best … He ran his race for us. We are forever indebted. May we stand firmly on his shoulders. Lift him up today. RIP”Barrino, who played lead character Celie in the film, also wrote: “Louis Gossett Jr, what an awesome man you were and the stories you told us, I’ll never, ever forget.”She added that he had “paved the way for black actors and actresses”.Gossett also starred in Backstairs At The White House, The Story Of Satchel Paige, The Josephine Baker Story, for which he won a Golden Globe, and Roots Revisited.He also starred in the cult 1980s science fiction film Enemy Mine as the alien Jeriba Shigan, alongside Dennis Quaid.Related TopicsThe OscarsTop StoriesDUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson resigns after rape chargePublished9 minutes agoWar a real threat and Europe not ready, warns Poland’s PMPublished2 hours agoMassive crane to haul wreckage of Baltimore bridgePublished3 hours agoFeaturesAnalysis: DUP resignation is a political bombshellWho is the former DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson?Beyoncé’s country album: The verdictCalls for Post Office police probe after BBC storyLife after Pontins swapped tourists for tradespeopleWaiting for Evan, Putin’s ‘bargaining chip’ in Russian jail2 Tone Music: Black and white exploding colourWeekly quiz: How much did Kate’s Titanic piece of wood sell for?A view from inside ship that hit Baltimore bridge. VideoA view from inside ship that hit Baltimore bridgeElsewhere on the BBCHow are jelly beans made?Gregg Wallace visits a Dublin factory that makes over ten million of the sweets per day!AttributioniPlayerIf aliens existed, what would they look like?Let Brian Cox and Robin Ince guide you through the universe’s big questionsAttributionSoundsThe ultimate bromanceEnjoy the genius of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore with a journey through the archivesAttributioniPlayerThe deadly history of wallpaper…Discover the extraordinary stories of the ordinary items all around youAttributionSoundsMost Read1Actress ‘upset’ at son’s trampoline park exclusion2Sir Jeffrey Donaldson resigns after rape charge3War a real threat and Europe not ready, warns Poland’s PM4Massive crane to haul wreckage of Baltimore bridge5Oscar-winner Louis Gossett Jr dies aged 876France loves Brazil says Macron after Lula meeting7Life after Pontins swapped tourists for tradespeople8Apology over class photo without complex needs pupils9John Boyega: Damilola Taylor death changed my life10Analysis: Resignation is a political bombshell](https://newsinsightplus.com/wp-content/uploads/https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/branded_news/12EC/production/_133044840_gettyimages-1208320516.jpg)
![BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityBusinessMarket DataEconomyYour MoneyCompaniesTechnology of BusinessCEO SecretsArtificial IntelligenceSam Bankman-Fried: Disgraced ‘Crypto King’ to be sentencedPublished1 hour agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Getty Images/BloombergBy Natalie ShermanBusiness reporter, New YorkSam Bankman-Fried, the former billionaire crypto boss who was convicted of fraud and money laundering last year, will return to court in New York on Thursday to be sentenced for his crimes.It is certain the 32-year-old will be going to jail; what is not known is how long for.The moment has revived debate about the extent of his crimes – and what punishment might fit. His legal team have called for leniency, but prosecutors are seeking 40 to 50 years in prison.They say such a sentence is warranted for someone who lied to investors and banks, and stole billions in deposits from customers of his now-bankrupt crypto exchange, FTX.His defence team has proposed five to 6.5 years, accusing the government of adopting “a medieval view of punishment” by insisting on a lengthy term behind bars for a non-violent, first-time criminal.The question has generated hundreds of pages of letters from former FTX customers, family, friends of his parents – even complete strangers – trying to sway Judge Lewis Kaplan, the federal justice who will decide his fate.”He has shown no remorse so why would any judge show any mercy?” said Sunil Kavuri, a British investor who had more than $2m worth of holdings on the exchange when it collapsed, and one of the people mobilising former customers to share their experience with the court. Image caption, Sunil Kavuri faces a long and uncertain wait to retrieve any of his investmentFTX’s collapse in 2022 was a stunning fall for Bankman-Fried, who had become a billionaire and business celebrity promoting the firm, a platform people could use to deposit and trade crypto.It attracted millions of customers, before rumours of financial trouble sparked a run on deposits. In November 2023, a US jury found Bankman-Fried had stolen billions in customer money from the exchange ahead of the collapse to buy property, make political donations and use for other investments.Many of those customers now appear poised to recover significant sums, under a plan being developed in the separate bankruptcy case.Under that proposal, former customers could receive money based on what their holdings were worth at the time the exchange collapsed.In court filings, the defence for Bankman-Fried, who is expected to appeal his conviction, has argued that such recovery warrants a lighter sentence. They said it proved that “money has always been available” which “would be impossible if [FTX’s] assets had disappeared into Sam’s personal pockets”. But the repayment plan has left many former customers outraged, since they will miss out on the crypto rebound that has occurred since. John Ray, the lawyer leading FTX through bankruptcy and a critic of Bankman-Fried, noted the concerns in his own letter to court.”Make no mistake; customers, non-governmental creditors, governmental creditors, and non-insider stockholders have suffered and continue to suffer,” he wrote to the court, arguing that the claims of minimal loss were a sign that Bankman-Fried continued to live “a life of delusion”. Former FTX customers interviewed by the BBC said they were offended by the blithe dismissal of their problems, and urged the judge to reject calls for leniency.”The people who are saying this are not in a position like I’m in, where you’ve lost everything,” said Arush Sehgal, a 38-year-old tech entrepreneur living in Barcelona, who, with his wife, is one of the exchange’s biggest individual creditors, with about $4m worth in savings in dollars and bitcoin at FTX when it collapsed. Image source, Arush SehgalHe is one of the customers suing over the current bankruptcy plan, which he said amounted to a “second crime” against Bankman-Fried’s customers. Angela Chang, of Vancouver, a 36-year-old who worked in software, said she had about $250,000 deposited in dollars with FTX when it collapsed. She said she feared the harm done to FTX customers was being discounted because they were in the crypto industry.”People think that crypto is criminal and so they have sympathy for this guy …. But I’m not a criminal,” she said, describing how the fall of the firm threw her into depression and left her running up credit card debt. Facing a cash crunch, she ultimately sold a portion of a claim to an investor.Columbia Law professor Daniel Richman said the scale of the crime was rarely as contested as in this case.But he said decisions are often shaped more by other issues, including a judge’s own impressions of the defendant, and what it would take to deter him from further crimes. In this case, Judge Kaplan, a veteran of the court system who has presided over a slew of high profile trials involving public figures such as Donald Trump and actor Kevin Spacey, has already proven to be sceptical of Bankman-Fried’s actions, revoking his bail last year after finding he was trying to intimidate other witnesses. “Any judge or lawyer will tell you that one of the best things the defendant can do before being sentences is really really show he’s on the right path, show some remorse and show some degree of self-knowledge as to his offence,” Prof Richman said. “Here you not only have a defendant who went to trial but you have one who really, at least the judge believed, was obstructive prior to trial,” he said, adding that it would be “really surprising” for Judge Kaplan to render a sentence anything like the defence request. FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried believed in ‘effective altruism’. What is it?Convicted ‘Crypto King’ faces decades in jailEveryone got duped by Sam Bankman-Fried’s big gambleSince the 1980s, the US has significantly increased the length of its official recommendations for jail time for white collar criminals.Though judges frequently depart from the guidelines, introducing wide variability, “the risk of harshness is greater than in most countries” – particularly for high-profile cases, Prof Richman said.In her own appeal to the judge, Barbara Fried, Bankman-Fried’s mother and a former law professor, noted the “punitive nature” of the US justice system “which makes us an extreme outlier among democracies”. “I have no illusions about the redemptive power of prisons,” she wrote. “Being consigned to prison for decades will destroy Sam as surely as would hanging him.”Related TopicsInternational BusinessCryptocurrencyMore on this storyEveryone got duped by Sam Bankman-Fried’s big gamblePublished3 November 2023Convicted ‘Crypto King’ faces decades in jailPublished3 November 2023Top StoriesDivers recover bodies in Baltimore bridge collapse watersPublished2 hours agoGirl, 10, left inoperable after surgery axed seven timesPublished7 hours agoKing sends ‘hand of friendship’ recorded messagePublished3 hours agoFeaturesThe Papers: Sewage ‘outrage’ and ‘King calls for kindness’ The families borrowing to pay for careFather of three among Baltimore bridge victimsUS guns pour into Haiti, fuelling surge in violenceLost IRA film shows planting and detonation of bombWhy some Tory MPs are stepping downI’m not ashamed of who I am any more, says LionessAfter Moscow attack, migrants from Central Asia hit by backlashWhy is sewage released into rivers and the sea?Elsewhere on the BBCNew lives, new loves and new merciless enemiesSuperman and Lois Lane face one of their biggest challenges… raising two teenage boysAttributioniPlayerThe powerful emotional impact of Pink Floyd’s musicShine On You Crazy Diamond has helped people through their hardest timesAttributionSoundsRadiohead meets Sons of Kemet in this alt-rock supergroupSee The Smile on the 6 Music Festival stageAttributioniPlayerA daughters mysterious disappearanceJoan Lawrence shares how she found out her daughter had disappeared in the run up to Mother’s DayAttributionSoundsMost Read1Gogglebox star, 40, dies after fall from height2Man seriously injured after stabbing on London train3Pupil behaviour getting worse, say teachers4King sends ‘hand of friendship’ recorded message5Girl, 10, left inoperable after surgery axed seven times6Son ‘numb’ as whole-life killer may be released7Sewage ‘outrage’ and ‘King calls for kindness’8France to sue teen over headscarf row claim9Police reassess decision on Rayner allegations10Disgraced ‘Crypto King’ Bankman-Fried to be sentenced](https://newsinsightplus.com/wp-content/uploads/https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/branded_news/38FE/production/_133009541_gettyimages-1258710788.jpg)
