The head of a Chinese wealth management firm who allegedly fled with more than US$150 million in investors’ money yesterday surfaced in an online video saying he will “be right back,” as police continued their search for him.
Yang Weiguo (楊衛國), chairman of conglomerate Wangzhou Group, last week disappeared with about 1 billion yuan (US$153.82 million), leaving thousands of investors unpaid, the official Xinhua news agency reported late on Sunday.
A wealth management subsidiary which Yang manages, Wangzhou Fortune (望洲財富管理), has experienced cash flow problems since mid-April, the report said. Wangzhou Fortune, which has operations in several cities, including Shanghai and Hangzhou, last week issued a statement saying Yang had vanished and the company had reported the case to police.
However, in a video posted by the 21st Century Business Herald, Yang told investors not to worry.
“Hello everyone, it is me,” said a man in a suit jacket and open-necked dress shirt identified as Yang. “Do not worry, I will be right back.”
In a separate statement published by the newspaper he denied any wrongdoing.
Wangzhou Group (望洲集團) is a conglomerate with a wide range of business areas including logistics, media, finance and hotels, according to its Web site. It has more than 100 branches in more than 50 cities.
The case is the latest involving alleged financial fraud to emerge in China as the economy slows.
Earlier this month, police detained more than 20 managers of the Zhongjin group (中金集團) of finance companies, including its head, at the airport as he apparently tried to flee the country on a chartered plane.
Another wealth management firm, Shanghai-based Jinlu Financial Advisors, has also struggled to pay back investors, causing them to besiege its office in the commercial hub.
In another recent scandal, peer-to-peer lending firm Ezubao (e租寶) bilked 900,000 investors out of US$7.6 billion by offering high interest rates which it was unable to pay, in what one executive described in a televised confession as a “typical Ponzi scheme.”
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