Vietnamese-American businesswoman gets life for $12M fraud

A HCMC court convicted Vu Bao Trinh, 50, owner of Nam Thi Real Estate Co. Ltd, for "fraudulent appropriation of assets."

To Van Chi Tam, the company's chairman, got 17 years and Hoang Thai Anh, another accomplice, got 16 years.

According to the panel of judges, Trinh directed Tam and Anh to commit the fraud and personally benefited from the VND309 billion they stole from 50 people, and is thus responsible for reimbursing the victims.

Nam Thi company, the developer of the La Bonita office and apartment building on Nguyen Gia Tri Street in HCMC’s Binh Thanh District, had mortgaged it to Rubber Finance Company to get a loan of VND95 billion.

Under the agreement, Trinh's company was not allowed to sell any apartment during the mortgage period without the consent of Rubber Finance.

But Trinh instructed Tam and Anh to sell apartments in La Bonita. They even sold the same apartment to multiple buyers.

In all, 88 organizations and individuals bought 118 apartments for VND485 billion and the company had received VND423 billion.

During the investigation, only 50 individuals and organizations accused Trinh and her accomplices of defrauding them of and the sum they mentioned was VND332 billion.

Trinh returned VND23 billion and misappropriated over VND309 billion, the amount the verdict was based on.