Truong My Lan, the chairwoman of the embattled real estate firm Van Thinh Phat, is accused of orchestrating a massive financial fraud involving 1 quadrillion Vietnamese Dong (approximately US$44 billion) through the use of SCB, a lending institution, over a decade. Authorities have pinpointed Lan as the primary orchestrator, who allegedly manipulated the bank and a vast network of companies to secure loans at will. To date, police have recommended that charges be brought against 86 individuals, including Lan, SCB executives, and certain officials at the State Bank of Vietnam.
Following a liquidity crisis at SCB in October 2022, the central bank took the unprecedented step of placing the private lender under special supervision to mitigate potential fallout on the banking sector. Lan’s questionable tactics began in 2011 when she had associates purchase shares in three banks—Saigon Commercial JSC, Vietnam Tin Nghia, and De Nhat—using her funds but in their names.
With the merger of these three banks on January 1, 2021, SCB was established. Although Lan effectively controlled 91.5% of the bank, she registered the shares under 27 different individuals’ names to conform with the regulatory 5% cap on individual bank ownership, directly holding only 4% herself.
Once in command of SCB, Lan installed trusted individuals in strategic roles within the bank, offering them salaries ranging from 200 to 500 million Vietnamese Dong. Despite the formal hierarchy, Lan had the ultimate authority over credit decisions, with the bank’s chairman, Bui Anh Dung, admitting to the police that he only signed off on loan approvals after the funds had already been allocated to Lan’s network.
Loan requests from Lan’s companies were identifiable by a special mark, allowing managers to recognize them. These loans were frequently unsecured, lacked clear repayment plans or background checks, and were often greenlit in advance of completion. Lan would orchestrate these financial maneuvers at off-site meetings, deliberately avoiding the SCB headquarters to evade detection.
Lan’s husband, Chu Nap Kee Eric, a Hong Kong national and chairman of Times Square Vietnam, was also implicated in the scheme. The couple oversaw the Times Square complex in Ho Chi Minh City, which includes offices, a hotel, apartments, and a shopping mall, and was financed through SCB loans. Meetings with SCB executives often took place at this venue.
The loans for the Times Square project resulted in nearly 40 trillion Vietnamese Dong in losses for SCB, as reported by the police. From 2012 to 2022, Lan borrowed over 1 quadrillion Vietnamese Dong, which constituted 93% of SCB’s total lending during that period, equivalent to one-fifth of Vietnam’s GDP as of late September.
Moreover, Lan is accused of bribing officials from the central bank to ignore SCB’s precarious financial state, which was described as “very bad” in 2017, ensuring the bank could continue to operate and attract more deposits.