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The Handbags Go to Auction: Trương Mỹ Lan and the Emptiest Bank in Asia

Vietnam

The Handbags Go to Auction: Trương Mỹ Lan and the Emptiest Bank in Asia

Trương Mỹ Lan secretly controlled Saigon Commercial Bank through two dozen proxies and drained an estimated $27 billion — around 6% of Vietnam's GDP. Her rise, her fall, and what it says about the country's growth.

By our editorsBy Khoi Nguyen25 July 2026

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