Businessman, supermodel ex-wife battle over $12M assets

By Hai Duyen October 16, 2023 | 11:37 pm PT

Vietnamese-American businessman Nguyen Duc An has asked to claim ownership of the disputed assets and pay his ex-wife, supermodel Pham Thi Ngoc Thuy, 30% of their values in cash, while Thuy insists on them being equally divided.

Supermodel Pham Thi Ngoc Thuy attends a trial over assets in dispute between her and her ex-husband on Oct. 16, 2023. Photo by Tien Dung

The HCMC People’s Court resumed its hearing of the dispute between An and Thuy over assets totally worth VND288 billion ($11.7 million) on Monday.

An asked the court to order Thuy to return the assets in dispute, so that his two daughters could be "entitled to the properties."

He wanted to claim the ownership of the assets and pay Thuy 30% of the assets’ total value in cash.

According to An’s legal representative at the court, the assets were "bought with An’s money which was made before his marriage with Thuy," and An asked Thuy to help him "register his assets in her name" as the Vietnamese law rules that foreigners could not own certain Vietnam-based properties.

An also asked Thuy to pay him an additional VND224 billion, which is the profits she had earned over the years by renting out nine of his luxury apartments in HCMC, and the money An had sent her, and yields generated from this money over the years.

According to Thuy’s legal representative at the court, Thuy bought part of the assets in dispute with money she earned from her jobs. She also contributed contributed her monetary resources and efforts to developing the assets. Thus the disputed assets belong to both An and Thuy.

Thuy requested the ownership of the assets, and would pay An half of their value in cash.

The judging panel subsequently decided to adjourn the trial on the expectation it would be heard again on Oct. 26 for "more time to verify the proof" before giving its final decision.

An, 61, married Thuy, 43, a model and actress dubbed "the Marilyn Monroe of Vietnam," in 2006, after knowing each other for just a week. They divorced in 2008.

An sued Thuy at the HCMC People’s Court in 2010, claiming Thuy had not returned 39 Vietnam-based assets – including several real estate properties, automobiles, and stocks – that he maintains he had bought with "money he earned before marriage."