Truong My Lan's diamond jewelry worth nearly $1 million USD goes up for auction, invoices missing

Three natural diamond jewelry pieces owned by Truong My Lan, the 70-year-old Chairwoman of Van Thinh Phat Group, are scheduled for auction with a combined starting price of nearly 25 billion Vietnamese dong (approximately $980,000 USD).

According to the Ho Chi Minh City Asset Auction Service Center, the items include a pair of diamond earrings, a diamond necklace, and a diamond ring. Notably, all three assets have lost their original sales records and invoices. However, the gems have been appraised, with sample results from the Vietnam Institute of Gems and Jewelry in November 2023 confirming their quality.

The highest starting bid is for the pair of earrings, valued at over 9.44 billion VND, followed by the necklace at over 8.89 billion VND, and the ring at over 6.65 billion VND. The auction is being conducted to enforce criminal judgments from the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court and the High People's Court in Ho Chi Minh City, under which Truong My Lan is obligated to compensate over 43,100 victims a total of more than 30.081 trillion VND.

Interested buyers can view the assets or their samples and ownership documents from August 12 to 14. Registration and application submissions will be accepted from August 7 to 18. The auction is planned for the morning of August 21, utilizing an open outcry bidding format with a common bidding increment of 100 million VND for all three items.