Vietnam auctioned two Hermes handbags owned by real estate tycoon Truong My Lan on May 21, 2026, as part of ongoing efforts to recover funds lost in the country’s largest-ever bank fraud case [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]. The auction took place online at Ho Chi Minh City's Asset Auction Service Centre.
The two luxury bags sold for a combined total of approximately 14.21 billion dong (around US$539,000 to US$550,000). One bag, decorated with white gemstones, fetched about 11.6 billion dong, while the other plain white Hermes bag sold for about 2.5 billion dong [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]. State media reported that Lan had tried to keep the items, calling them "mementos" she wanted returned to her family, but the court rejected her claim [5, 6, 7, 8, 10].
Lan, aged approximately 69 to 70, was convicted in April 2024 for embezzling US$12.3 billion from Saigon Commercial Bank through a network of proxies spanning several years. The total damages she was ordered to repay to victims amount to US$27 billion [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10]. She initially received a death sentence, but after Vietnam abolished the death penalty for certain economic crimes in June 2025, her sentence was commuted to life imprisonment [1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10].
To date, Lan has repaid more than 12 trillion dong (about US$500 million) to roughly 42,000 bondholders, with approximately 18 trillion dong still outstanding [1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10]. The fraud case involved Lan and her co-conspirators embezzling and misusing over 304 trillion dong from the bank, severely impacting depositors and investors [4, 9].
Following the handbag auction, three luxury cars owned by Lan — a Mercedes-Maybach, BMW, and Lexus — are scheduled to be auctioned between May 22 and 23, 2026 [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]. Lan’s seized assets include more than 1,200 properties and a luxury yacht named "Saigon Vanyun" [10].
