Businessman changes list of assets in $12M lawsuit against supermodel ex-wife

Supermodel Ngoc Thuy. Photo by Milor Tran

He sent a letter to the court asking to remove 13 of the 39 assets in a list he had submitted, including five villas in the coastal city of Phan Thiet, seven automobiles and a motorbike, citing that Thuy had sold these assets and "it can take the court more time to verify" as his reason.

He has now added other assets to his claim.

He wants Thuy to return an additional VND67.8 billion she had earned over the years by "renting out nine of his luxury HCMC District 1 apartments."

He has also added VND422 million and US$447,000 that are in three bank accounts he had told Thuy to open in her name.

He rejected her demand that all properties acquired after their marriage should be divide equally between them.

Calling this "groundless," he said he was reclaiming "properties bought with his money" and wants them transferred to the company operated by him and Thuy so that their two daughters could get them when they turn 18.

"If the investigating process takes too long, I want the HCMC People's Court to terminate the lawsuit and pass a verdict aligning with what The Superior Court of California has passed," he said in his letter to the court.

An, 61, and Thuy, 43, married in September 2006 after knowing each other for just a week.

They divorced in March 2008.

An filed a suit in the HCMC People’s Court claiming Thuy had not returned 39 Vietnam-based assets he had bought with "money he earned before marriage" in 2010.

As a foreigner he "had to register the properties in Thuy’s name."

The Superior Court of California in his native U.S. had ruled that Thuy had to return the properties to him as they "were purchased with his money [and not related to Thuy]."

It has taken the HCMC People's Court 13 years to hear the case since it "had to obtain documents related to the properties in dispute."

It is set to rule on the dispute on August 18. Thuy was once a famous supermodel and actress dubbed the "Marilyn Monroe of Vietnam."

She retired when she married An. In 2016, she remarried a lawyer named Truong.