The once-great real estate empire of Truong My Lan is being gradually sold off after it became the center of a $1.15 billion bank fraud case, one of the largest corruption cases in Vietnamese history.
On July 30, 2026, at 5:00 AM, Bloomberg News reported that, if Ho Chi Minh City were once a game of Monopoly, the name of... Truong My Lan Or as it is known to the Vietnamese. "Madame Lan" They probably own almost all the prime real estate in the city.
Before her arrest in October 2022, the 69-year-old businesswoman had built a large network of companies owning vast real estate assets, ranging from luxury shopping malls and five-star hotels to office buildings and large plots of land throughout Ho Chi Minh City, particularly on Nguyen Hue Boulevard and Dong Khoi Street, often compared to New York's Fifth Avenue.
But today, the once thriving real estate empire has become a key asset for the Vietnamese government in its efforts to quickly sell off properties in order to compensate for losses in one of the largest bank fraud cases in world history.
From the death penalty to the mission to return over 7 billion dong.
In April 2567, a Vietnamese court sentenced Truong My Lan to death after she was found guilty of embezzling 304 trillion dong, or approximately US$11,500 billion, from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB). However, Vietnam later abolished the death penalty for this type of crime, giving her a chance for commutation of her sentence.
The court also ordered her to repay a total of 704 trillion dong to SCB and thousands of bondholders, representing about 5% of Vietnam's gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the appraiser appointed by the bank valued some of her assets at around 253.6 trillion dong, a significant number of assets remained unvalued due to incomplete title documents or legal disputes.
Owning major landmarks throughout Ho Chi Minh City.
Madame Lan's real estate empire encompasses several landmark properties, including:
- Union Square, a luxurious colonial-style shopping mall opposite Ho Chi Minh City Hall, houses world-renowned brands such as Dior, Tiffany & Co., and Hermès. She acquired it in 2556 for 10 trillion dong, with plans to develop a luxury Mandarin Oriental hotel, but the project was halted after her arrest.
- Times Square in Ho Chi Minh City is home to a 39-story building housing the offices of global corporations such as Deloitte and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, as well as the luxurious The Reverie Saigon hotel, renowned for its gold-plated elevators, crystal chandeliers, and rooms costing thousands of dollars a night.
- Saigon One Tower is an unfinished skyscraper on the Saigon River, which locals call the "Zombie Tower."
- Windsor Plaza Hotel is a 5-star hotel developed with an investment of over 1.3 trillion dong.
- Sherwood Residence, a luxury serviced apartment, was Madame Lan's residence before her arrest.
She also owns Villa Le Voile, a century-old French-style mansion purchased in 2015 for approximately 700 billion VND, with the intention of renovating it into a cultural tourist attraction and restaurant before the project was halted.
Before her arrest, she also had plans to develop over 118 hectares of land south of Ho Chi Minh City into a luxury resort, complete with offices, villas, and a yacht marina.
From market vendor to real estate billionaire.
Madame Lan's business journey began with helping her family sell cosmetics and hair accessories in Ben Thanh Market. After the Vietnamese government opened up the country and implemented economic reforms in 2529, she and her husband, Eric Chu, a Hong Kong businessman, saw an opportunity to buy cheap land before establishing Van Thinh Phat Company in 2535.
The company started with hotels and restaurants before expanding into premium real estate, becoming a network officially identified as having over 1,000 subsidiaries both in Vietnam and abroad. According to court documents, Madame Lan holds 60% of the shares, her two daughters each hold 10%, and the remainder is held in companies controlled by her granddaughter.
Although Van Thinh Phat had previously received praise from state media for donating 2 trillion dong to help the government cope with COVID-19, Madame Lan lived a quiet life and rarely revealed her wealth until a major case exposed her business empire.
A historic bank fraud plot.
Prosecutors stated that the heart of the corruption lay with Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB). Although Vietnamese law limits individuals to holding no more than 5% of bank shares, Madame Lan used others to hold shares on her behalf before merging three banks in 2012 to form SCB.
By 2022, she had informally controlled over 90% of the bank, turning it into the fifth largest commercial bank in the country.
She used hundreds of nominee and shell companies to borrow money from SCB, then used the funds to circulate in her businesses, invest in various projects, and conceal bad debts. She also bribed central bank officials millions of dollars to cover up her actions.
As obtaining loans became more difficult, she illegally raised funds by issuing bonds worth 30 trillion dong through a subsidiary company and selling them to retail investors via SCB.
The government is accelerating the sale of assets to repay creditors.
The Vietnamese government is currently gradually selling off assets seized from Madame Lan to repay debts to SCB and bondholders. Assets to be auctioned include office buildings, land, factories, warehouses, over 8,500 pieces of clothing and accessories, over 370,000 items from luxury furniture companies, as well as Hermès handbags, Maybach and BMW cars, some of which have already been sold.
However, The Reverie Saigon hotel and some other businesses remain open and operating as usual, but their ownership cannot be sold or transferred without official approval.
Analysts believe the process of separating assets, verifying their value, and finding buyers will take a long time, while the market will determine whether the real estate used as collateral for the loan actually has the value as previously estimated.
Nguyen Tri Hieu, an economist from Hanoi, stated that dismantling Madame Lan's business empire would reduce the concentration of land ownership in the hands of a few individuals, opening up more competition in the Vietnamese real estate market and potentially attracting more foreign investors in the long term.
refer : www.bloomberg.com
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