Vietnamese real estate developer Truong My Lan has been sentenced to death by a court in Ho Chi Minh City for Southeast Asia’s largest-ever embezzlement and fraud scheme after a month-long trial.

The 67-year-old is found charged with bribery, violating banking regulations, and embezzlement, and the death penalty is due to the amount of money stolen.

State news outlet VnExpress reported that the defendant “staggered and was supported by the police”.

Lan, chairwoman of real estate developer Van Thinh Phat Holdings Group (VTP), purportedly embezzled over 304 trillion dong ($12.5 billion) from Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank (SCB).

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Lan allegedly controlled SCB through "thousands of ghost companies" between 2012 and 2022. An additional 193 trillion dong ($7.8 billion) in damages resulted from accumulated interest on the loans, allegedly taken by Lan and her accomplices from the bank.

The purported scam's total damages amount to approximately 498 trillion dong ($20 billion), representing around 4.69% of Vietnam's GDP.

Prosecutors said that Lan had also been accused of bribing officials to ignore her activities, including a payment of $5.2 million, which she allegedly made to a senior central bank inspector. 

After Lan’s arrest in October 2022, three SCB officials committed suicide.

The tycoon was arrested when the investigation began in October 2022. Prosecutors were seeking a death sentence for embezzlement, 20 years in prison for bribery, and a potential maximum of 20 years for breaching the country's financial regulations.

“During the trial, Truong My Lan did not admit to the crime, was stubborn, blamed her subordinates, and didn’t show remorse. The defendant’s actions caused extremely serious and irreparable consequences, so Truong My Lan should be permanently removed from society,” Vietnam+ cited the prosecutors saying.