In the 2018 film Ocean's 8, eight glamorous and quick-witted women, led by the newly paroled con artist Debbie Ocean, devise an elaborate plan to steal a $150 million Cartier necklace at the Met Gala, the world's most prestigiousHighly respected. fashion event.

With their impossibly fashionable get-ups and impressively high heels, the women take advantage of the ways in which they are underestimated. They work right underneath the nose of the authorities, never suspected: after all, they joke, heistsA robbery, especially one in which money, jewellery, or art is stolen. are usually undertaken by men.

Perhaps the Vietnamese property developer Truong My Lan felt like the fictional Debbie Ocean, as she spent 11 years looting one of her country's largest banks, before anybody noticed a thing.

The scale of her crime is dizzying, amounting to $44 billion (£35 billion). It is the biggest financial fraud case in Vietnam's history, with the spoils amounting to a staggering 3% of the country's entire GDP.

But the ambitious business woman flew too close to the sun. Amid a contentiousControversial, likely to cause an argument. anti-corruption campaign in Vietnam, she has been sentenced to death for her crimes. It is one of very few instances of the death sentence being invoked for a white collarRelating to work done in an office or another professional space. crime.

The case was a colourful public spectacleA visually striking performance.; 2,700 people summoned to testify in the trial, which involved over 200 lawyers. The evidence was presented in 104 boxes weighing a total of six tonnes.¹

Some see it as unfair that Truong My Lan is facing such a harsh sentence. After all, many believe her misdeedsWicked or illegal acts. were ignored for years by powerful figures in Ho Chi Minh City. Her case is, they say, just one example of a much wider issue.

After the 2008 financial crisis, the greatest economic disaster since the Great Depression, many called for the US Wall Street bankers and executives who they felt had caused the crisis to be jailed. All but one walked free.²

This crisis led to a loss of over $2 trillion in global economic growth and wiped out $8 trillion in stock market value. Americans alone saw a $9.8 trillion loss in wealth. Yet those involved did not even receive a slap on the wrist: in fact, many were bailed out using taxpayer funds.

Next to the 2008 crisis, Truong My Lan's heist seems almost insigificant, and sentencing her to death appears absurd. But many think the sentence is intended to be symbolic, finally putting Vietnam's endemicCommon to a particular place or community. corruption problem to sleep.

Is this penalty too harsh?

Yes: Money can never measure up to a person's life. It is inconceivable to take somebody's life over a few billion pounds.

No: My Lan's fraud and embezzlement amounted to 3% of Vietnam's entire GDP. This is a crime of epic proportions which cannot be treated by the usual rules.

Or... There is no crime where the death penalty can ever be justified. No government or court should be able to decide if somebody lives or dies.