A Vietnamese property tycoon who was jailed for life in a $17-billion money laundering case had her sentence cut to 30 years on appeal on Monday after she claimed what happened was “an accident”.

Property developer Truong My Lan had already lost a challenge against the death penalty in a separate case in which she was found guilty in April last year of stealing money from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) and fraud amounting to $27 billion.

The appeal court ruled there was no basis to reduce her sentence but said she could still escape the death penalty if she returned three-quarters of the stolen assets.

Four months later, an appeal court in Ho Chi Minh City ruled on Monday that a life sentence she was handed for three crimes during a second trial in October would be reduced to 30 years.

“Lan played the major role… (but) we also take into consideration the amount of money that Lan has spent on overcoming the consequences,” judge Pham Cong Muoi said following discussions during the appeal about how her assets may be used to compensate victims of her crimes.

Prosecutors said she had repaid a quarter of the $1.2 billion she defrauded from thousands of bond investors.

Lan’s husband Chu Lap Co did not appeal, but the judging panel concluded that his two-year sentence should be cut by half after he paid back the $1.2 million he was found to have laundered.

In her final words before the court last week, Lan described what happened as “an accident”.

“Since being jailed, I have tried my best… to seek the best solutions to (deal with my) projects and properties,” she was quoted as saying by state media.

“Please acknowledge my effort,” she added.

‘Mastermind’

The 68-year-old was found guilty in October of laundering $17.7 billion and illegal cross-border trafficking of $4.5 billion.

She was also found guilty of bond fraud.

The court determined during the trial that Lan was “the mastermind, committed the crime with sophisticated methods, many times, causing especially serious consequences”.

During her first trial in April 2024, Lan was found guilty of embezzling $12.5 billion but prosecutors said the damages caused by the scam totalled $27 billion — equivalent to around six percent of Vietnam’s 2023 GDP.

Lan owned just five percent of shares in SCB on paper but the court concluded that she effectively controlled more than 90 percent through family, friends and staff.

Tens of thousands of people who had invested their savings in the bank lost money, prompting rare protests in the communist nation.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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Good morning. Lily Mae Lazarus here, filling in for Ruth Umoh.

In the pursuit of speed and efficiency, many companies have aggressively trimmed layers of middle management. Chief executives like Amazon’s Andy Jassy and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg have championed flatter organizational structures in an effort to reduce bureaucracy and spark innovation. But what looks lean on paper is proving increasingly costly at the top.

Senior executives are now shouldering more direct reports, managing tasks once owned by middle managers, and losing valuable time for strategic thinking. According to Korn Ferry’s 2025 Workforce Survey, 41% of employees say their organizations have cut management layers, and nearly half of senior executives doubt their ability to manage it all, outpacing even CEOs (40%) in self-doubt. 

Middle managers have long served as the vital link between vision and execution. Without them, that connection frays, says senior client partner at Korn Ferry Maria Amato. In fact, 43% of employees surveyed by Korn Ferry say leadership isn’t aligned, and 37% report feeling directionless.

It’s not just clarity that suffers, either. Leadership development, mentorship, and career advancement—typically nurtured by middle managers—often vanish too. That threatens retention, particularly among high performers, who often leave for better career support that strong middle managers provide.

The fix isn’t simply to reintroduce layers. “Before you jump to solutions, whether it’s cutting or anything else, you have to diagnose your own organization,” Amato warns. Companies, she says, need to redesign leadership roles with greater intention, ensuring executives can stay focused on strategy while building an infrastructure that supports talent development.

Lily Mae Lazarus
lily.lazarus@fortune.com

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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