Vietnamese-American man spends 16 years fighting to reclaim HCMC villa held in friend’s name

On Thursday Huynh Larry Hung showed up at his villa on Cuu Long Street near HCMC’s Tan Son Nhat International Airport, waiting to receive the house that for years has been used by the friend’s family.

Authorities arrived to carry out an enforcement order for the occupants to leave and return the premise to Hung, but at the last minute the Supreme People’s Procuracy ordered its suspension to review the file, causing Hung to leave in disappointment.

He bought the house and land measuring more than 466 square meters in 1993. Since foreigners were not permitted to hold title to residential property in Vietnam at the time, he registered its ownership in his friend Tran Ngoc Que’s name.

When Que emigrated to the U.S. in 1995, Hung asked another close friend, Huynh Quang Trung, to stand in as the registered owner. Que sold the house to Trung at zero cost.

In 2007 Trung and his wife, Le Thi Vung, prepared a written statement at a law office saying the property belonged to Hung, the registration was merely nominal and it would be transferred back to him on demand.

Trung died in 2008, and Hung asked Vung to hand over the property, but she refused. She even signed a contract gifting part of the house to her three children.

Hung filed a lawsuit at the Tan Binh District People’s Court in 2009, seeking his property back.

Vung told the court she and her husband had bought the house from Que as indicated in the sales contract.

She even denied acknowledging in writing that she was holding the title on behalf of Hung, but the law office told the court that she had.

In 2010 the court ruled in favor of Hung, ordering Vung to return the entire property to him.

Vung appealed. The legal battle continued until December 2024, when the HCMC People’s Court also ruled in favor of Hung and ordered Vung to return the premise to him.

Vung did not comply, prompting authorities to issue the enforcement order.

But the Supreme People’s Procuracy ordered its suspension following a cassation appeal made by Vung’s daughter.

Hung told Read: “I returned to Vietnam and stayed in somebody’s house just to pursue this lawsuit for 16 years. Now I am old, and I don’t know how many years I have to wait to get my own house back.”