Vietnam sentences death row tycoon to life imprisonment for money laundering

A Vietnamese real estate magnate was convicted Thursday of fraudulently acquiring properties worth billions of dollars and sentenced to life in prison, in a case at the center of the government’s crackdown on corruption.

The trials were split into two parts due to the large number of charges against her, and Thursday’s ruling adds to Lan’s legal troubles as she awaits the hearing of the appeal against her death sentence.

Vietnam has handed down more than two thousand death sentences and executed more than four hundred prisoners in the past ten years. It is a possible punishment for 14 different crimes, but is usually only applied in cases of murder and drug trafficking.

“It is too high a price for me to stand here today. I consider this my fate and a career accident,” online newspaper VNexpress quoted Lan, the chairman of property developer Van Thinh Phat, telling the judges in its closing statement last week.

“For the rest of my life, I will never forget that my actions affected tens of thousands of families.”