Luxury Birkin Bags Seized From Jailed Vietnamese Tycoon Sell For Over $535,000
Two luxury Hermès Birkin handbags confiscated from jailed Vietnamese businesswoman Truong My Lan have been sold for more than $535,000 during a government auction in Vietnam.
According to reports, both bags were sold within 30 minutes of bidding, with one white crocodile-skin Birkin bag attracting the highest offer of about $440,144, while the second bag sold for approximately $94,858.
Birkin bags, produced by Hermès, are regarded as some of the world’s most exclusive luxury handbags and can sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars due to their rarity and craftsmanship.
Truong My Lan is currently serving a life sentence after being convicted over one of Vietnam’s biggest financial fraud cases involving Saigon Commercial Bank.
A Vietnamese court had initially sentenced her to death in April 2024 after finding that she secretly controlled the bank and allegedly diverted huge sums of money through a network of shell companies over several years.
However, the sentence was later reduced to life imprisonment after Vietnam abolished the death penalty for certain offences.
Authorities also ordered the businesswoman to repay an estimated $27 billion in compensation linked to the case.
During the court proceedings, Truong My Lan reportedly pleaded to keep the two handbags, describing them as sentimental items she hoped to pass down to her children and grandchildren.
The bags were later included among over 1,200 assets seized by authorities and auctioned through the Ho Chi Minh City Asset Auction Service Center.
One of the bags, a smaller size 25 Birkin decorated with rhinestones, reportedly sold for nearly seven times its initial starting price.
Luxury fashion experts say the value of Birkin bags has continued to rise globally because of limited supply and strong demand among collectors and investors.
Earlier in 2025, the original Birkin bag was sold by Sotheby’s in Paris for more than $10 million, setting a record for the most expensive handbag ever auctioned.
