Brian Jeffrey
The Van Thinh Phat Group’s Chairwoman, Truong My Lan, along with 33 other defendants, has been indicted by the Supreme People’s Procuracy. Lan is facing charges including “Fraudulent appropriation of property,” “Money laundering,” and “Illegal cross-border currency transfer.”
The indictment details that between January 1, 2018, and October 7, 2022, Lan and her associates siphoned off more than 445 trillion VND (approximately $19.3 billion) through fraudulent schemes, with 415 trillion VND from embezzlement and over 30 trillion VND from fraudulent appropriation. Lan orchestrated the movement of funds from the SCB system to disguise the source of the money and then laundered it for various purposes.
The fraudulent cash withdrawals primarily occurred at the SCB Saigon Branch, where Lan’s team, including Nguyen Phuong Hong, Tran Thi My Dung, Nguyen Phuong Anh, and Thai Thi Thanh Thao, compiled lists of entities and individuals for money withdrawal and transfer. Thanh Thao, in collaboration with Phuong Anh, prepared the necessary documentation for cash withdrawal, which was then processed by Thao.
Once the paperwork was completed, Thao alerted Tran Thi Thuy Ai, the branch’s treasury inspector, to release the cash to Bui Van Dung, Lan’s driver, who then transported the money to the Sherwood Building in Ho Chi Minh City. There, Lan’s secretary, Tran Thi Hoang Uyen, distributed the funds according to Lan’s instructions.
In cases where immediate cash usage wasn’t necessary, Lan instructed her team to utilize SCB accounts to temporarily hold the funds. These accounts were employed to transfer money between different accounts to mask its source before ultimately directing it to specified accounts for personal utilization.
As of the initiation of the criminal investigation on October 7, 2022, 35,824 investors holding bonds from An Dong, Quang Thuan, Sunny World, and Setra were identified as victims. Investigative agencies have managed to gather statements from 35,315 of these victims to verify their claims.
