Taoyuan prosecutors yesterday started an investigation into allegations that entrepreneur Wiston Tsai (蔡文清) has defrauded investors of more than NT$150 million (US$4.86 million) through his agricultural-biotechnology business.
Tsai, touted as an agri-biotech pioneer in Taiwan, is known for developing large-scale indoor vegetable production through vertical farming, which deploys LED lighting, hydroponics, high-tech system controls and organic farming practices.
He was best known as the chairman of Vegfab Agricultural Technology Co, which has ceased operations, and is currently the chairman of YesHealth iFarm.
Photo: Chen Yun, Taipei Times
Two investors, surnamed Su (蘇) and Kao (高), accused Tsai of running an investment scam in 2013 through Vegfab, promising high returns for investors, with plans to expand the firm’s sales network and set up vertical farms in China, Chinese-language magazine Mirror Media reported.
Su and Kao said they set up a venture capital wth friends and other investors, raising NT$150 million for Vegfab.
However, it was all bogus, they alleged, as Tsai’s business plans were never realized and the company subsequently went bust.
Tsai sold the company in 2015 and all investors lost their money, the report said.
Tsai set up another company, YesHealth iFarm, to much fanfare in late 2013, and his ambitious plans attracted local industry giants, such as Hon Hai Group chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) and Grace T.H.W. Group chairman Winston Wong (王文洋), they said.
“Tsai could not sustain the business at Vegfab in 2013, knowing it was going under, but he covered it up and got investors to plow more money in, allowing him to recover his losses,” Su said in the report.
Like Vegfab, YesHealth iFarm was a fraudulent promotional scheme to entice investors, Su said.
“We are concerned that they [investors] are being deceived by the same financial scam by Tsai,” Su said.
“That is why we filed a complaint for prosecutors to investigate Tsai, to prevent investors from being duped out of tens of millions of dollars like we did,” Su said.
Tsai yesterday rejected the allegations as “accusations by unscrupulous people and media spreading false rumors based on unsubstantiated information.”
He said he would file a lawsuit “against those making malicious claims or slandering me.”
YesHealth iFarm in April announced plans to invest US$25 million to establish a vertical farm in York, England, which had received the UK government’s blessing.
Tsai said at the time that the company chose the UK to serve as its first base in Europe, because it has a high spending power and consumes a lot of salad, and that he plans to expand YesHealth iFarm factories from the UK throughout Europe and the Middle East.
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