FB Roundup: Truong My Lan, Donald Trump, James Packer
Vietnamese billionaire Truong My Lan sentenced to death over $44 billion fraud charges
Real estate tycoon Truong My Lan has been found guilty and sentenced to death by a court in Vietnam for her role in a 304-trillion-dong ($12.5 billion) financial fraud, the country’s biggest on record.
According to State Media, “Lan, the chairwoman of real estate developer Van Thinh Phat Holdings Group, was found guilty of embezzlement, bribery and violations of banking rules at the end of a trial in the business hub of Ho Chi Minh City.”
“We will keep fighting to see what we can do,” a family member told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“Of course she will appeal the verdict,” said defence lawyer Nguyen Huy Thiep to Reuters on behalf of Lan, who had pleaded not guilty to the embezzlement and bribery charges.
According to Reuters, “Vietnam imposes the death penalty mostly over violent offenses but also for economic crimes. Human rights groups say it has executed hundreds of convicts in recent years, mainly by lethal injection.
“The Thanh Nien newspaper said 84 defendants in the case received sentences ranging from probation for three years to life imprisonment. Among them are Lan’s husband, Eric Chu, a businessman from Hong Kong, who was sentenced to nine years in jail, and her niece who got 17 years.”
Lan, who started her career as a cosmetics trader and later founded her real estate company Van Thinh Phat in 1992, was found guilty along with her accomplices of siphoning off more than 304-trillion dong from Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank (SCB), which she effectively controlled through dozens of proxies despite rules strictly limiting large shareholding in lenders, according to investigators.
“The defendant’s actions not only violate the property management rights of individuals and organisations but also put SCB under scrutiny, eroding people’s trust in the leadership of the Party and State,” state newspaper VnExpress cited the jury as saying.
Vietnam’s crackdown, dubbed “Blazing Furnace”, has seen hundreds of senior state officials and high-profile business executives prosecuted or forced to step down in recent times.
Donald Trump’s Truth Social stake tumbles by nearly $2 billion
American businessman and second-term presidential hopeful Donald Trump has seen the value of his stake in alternative social media business Truth Social drop by nearly $2 billion since the company disclosed that it lost more than $58 million in 2023.
As reported by The National, “Trump Media & Technology Group’s stock fell 21 per cent to $48.66 per share, below the $49.95 level where the blank-check vehicle it merged with was trading a week ago.
“On Friday, the company, which listed on the Nasdaq on March 26, fell another 12 per cent to close out the trading week at $40.59.”
Trump owns 57 per cent of the company, according to the filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Described as “America's ‘Big Tent’ social media platform that encourages an open, free, and honest global conversation without discriminating on the basis of political ideology”, the alt-tech social media platform was launched on February 21, 2022, and generated $4.1 million in revenue for the full year according to results reported in a filing.
While the company doesn’t report active user numbers, Truth Social recently disclosed that it has about nine million sign-ups across its platforms.
Trump’s current net worth is estimated at $5.1 billion, down from a peak of $7.81 billion in March, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Australian billionaire James Packer quits casino board
Australian billionaire businessman and investor James Packer has resigned from the board of casino giant Crown Resorts, four months after stepping down as chairman.
In a statement, Packer, who owns 53 percent of the $6.5 billion company, did not give a reason for stepping down but said he planned to devote his energy to development projects in Sydney, Melbourne and Las Vegas.
As reported by Reuters, “The move cuts Packer’s influence over the firm he said ‘represents the vast majority of my net wealth’ as it weathers a slump in Macau, where gambling revenue has fallen for 18 straight months because of a Chinese government graft crackdown.
“Crown has a one-third stake in Hong Kong-based Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd, which in 2015 opened a 420,000 square foot casino in Macau. Crown shares rose as much as 5 percent in a flat overall market on Monday.”
Packer’s statement went on to confirm that his private investment vehicle, Consolidated Press Holdings Ltd, “recently concluded a major transaction in my family’s business and this also has assisted the timing of my decision.”
Late last year, Australian media reported that the move was in part due to a disagreement with Packer’s sister Gretel, a claim that he refutes: “Gretel and I have never been closer,” he said.
James Packer took over the running of Crown, then a media conglomerate called Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd, following his father’s death in 2005, and transformed it into one of the world’s biggest casino developers and operators.
