A woman secretly owned a bank she was not allowed to own, used it to steal $12.5 BILLION over 10 years, and was sentenced to death. The court told her she could live if she paid most of it back. She is still trying to find the money. – Truong My Lan started her career selling cosmetics at a market stall in Ho Chi Minh City. – She built it into Van Thinh Phat, one of Vietnam's largest real estate companies. – Vietnamese law prohibits any individual from owning more than 5% of a bank. – Between 2012 and 2022 she used hundreds of ghost companies to acquire over 90% of Saigon Commercial Bank secretly. – She used the bank as a personal treasury. – Her team filed 1,300 fake loan applications to companies that existed only on paper. Those fake loans made up 93% of the bank's entire lending portfolio. – Her personal driver transported the equivalent of $4.4 BILLION in cash from SCB's headquarters to her home and office. In boxes all by car for years. – For ten years nobody stopped it. – She was arrested in October 2022. The moment her arrest was announced depositors flooded SCB branches across Vietnam. – The bank run was so severe that Vietnam's central bank injected $24 BILLION in emergency loans overnight to prevent total collapse. – Her trial lasted five weeks. 2,700 witnesses were called. Evidence filled 104 boxes weighing six tons combined. – She was convicted of embezzling $12.5 BILLION. Total damages to the economy reached $27 BILLION. – That's six percent of Vietnam's entire GDP. Caused by one person. – 85 others were convicted alongside her including bank executives, government officials, and her own husband. – She was sentenced to death in April 2024. Her appeal was rejected in December 2024. – The court offered one exit. Return 75% of the stolen money and the sentence could be reduced to life imprisonment. – Prosecutors have seized over 1,000 of her properties. She had secretly moved $4.5 BILLION out of the country before her arrest. – Most of the money has not been found. She started at a market stall selling cosmetics. She ended up on death row for the largest financial fraud in Vietnamese history.