Birkin Auctions Won’t Cover $27B Fraud Victims
Vietnamese real estate tycoon Truong My Lan owes about $27 billion to victims after siphoning roughly $44 billion in loans and embezzlement; authorities have auctioned her Birkin bags, luxury cars and yachts with only about $455,000 repaid so far. Two Hermes Birkin bags sold for around $539,000, while other high-value assets have struggled to find buyers. Officials continue seizing and auctioning assets to satisfy court judgments, but the debt dwarfs the proceeds. Lan’s death sentence for embezzlement was commuted to life imprisonment after Vietnam abolished the death penalty for several offenses.