Supermodel appears in trial for $12M dispute with businessman ex-husband

The former supermodel arrived in court with her legal representative and refused to talk to the press about the lawsuit.

“I will answer every question you may have after the judge announces their final decision,” she told reporters.

Former supermodel Pham Thi Ngoc Thuy (far L) appears at the HCMC's People Court on September 18, 2023. Photo by VnExpress/Hai Duyen

Her ex-husband, Vietnamese-American businessman Nguyen Duc An was absent from the trial, citing that he had to take care of his sick children. His legal representative, lawyer Nguyen Huu The Trach, was present on his behalf.

It is estimated that the trial will last three to five days.

An, 61, married Thuy, 43, a famous former model and actress dubbed the “Marilyn Monroe of Vietnam,” in 2006 after knowing each other for just a week.

They divorced in 2008.

Former supermodel Pham Thi Ngoc Thuy. Photo by Tien Nguyen

An filed a suit in the HCMC People's Court in 2010, claiming Thuy had not returned 39 Vietnam-based assets – including several real estate properties, automobiles, and stocks – he had bought with “money he earned before marriage.”

As a foreigner, he “had to register the properties in Thuy's name.”

The Superior Court of California in his native U.S. had ruled that Thuy had to return the properties to him as they “were purchased with his money [and not related to Thuy].”

He said his children would be “entitled to the properties” if Thuy returned them.

But Thuy said in a 2014 interview with VnExpress that she and An did not sign a prenuptial agreement on properties acquired during their marriage, and so they belonged to both of them.

The HCMC People’s Court announced in August this year that it would finally hold a trial for the case after 13 years since it had to “obtain documents related to the properties in dispute.”

However, the first trial, held on August 18, was adjourned as “several lawyers and people with interest and obligations related to the case were not present.”

An also sent a letter to the court asking to make some changes to the list of assets he requested Thuy to return.

He wanted to remove 13 of the 39 assets in a list he had submitted, including five villas in the coastal city of Phan Thiet, seven automobiles, and a motorbike, citing that Thuy had sold these assets and “it would take the court more time to verify.”

But he asked Thuy to return an additional VND67.8 billion she had earned over the years by “renting out nine of his luxury HCMC District 1 apartments,” as well as VND422 million and $447,000 which are in three bank accounts he had told Thuy to open in her name.

He rejected her demand that all properties acquired after their marriage should be divided equally between them, calling it “groundless.”