Danny Pang (彭日成), a Taiwan-born financier accused by US federal regulators of defrauding investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars, died on Saturday. He was 42.
Pang died at about 5am at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach, California, Supervising Deputy Corner Larry Eslinger said.
Police were summoned to Pang’s house in a gated community at about 3:30pm on Friday on a medical emergency call, and paramedics took him to the hospital, Newport Beach police Sergeant Doug Jones said.
The cause of death was not immediately available, Esslinger said.
An autopsy was to be conducted yesterday.
Pang pleaded not guilty in July to federal charges of evading currency reporting laws. The case had been set to go to trial next week, but was delayed until next August.
Pang, a Taiwanese immigrant, was accused of bilking investors in his US$4 billion firm by falsely portraying returns as coming from investments in timeshare real estate and life insurance policies of seniors. Prosecutors said he ran a Ponzi scheme, using money from newer investors to pay earlier ones.
Pang’s companies, Private Equity Management Group Inc and Private Equity Management Group LLC, are based in Irvine, California.
“Danny was a wonderful husband, loving father and honest businessman,” Pang’s family said in a statement released through spokesman Charles Sipkins. “It is distressing that Danny had to endure such a mean-spirited assault on his character without ever having a chance to defend himself. We remain steadfast in our belief that Danny would have been vindicated if he had been given that opportunity.”
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) froze Pang’s assets in April, ordered him to surrender his passports and bring back to the US any assets he had sent overseas. He stepped aside as chairman and chief executive officer.
Pang was arrested days later by the FBI on charges of gradually withdrawing about US$360,000 from a company account so he wouldn’t have to report the transactions to regulators.
Robert Mosier, a court-appointed receiver in charge of Pang’s companies, said in court documents that Pang managed his investments as a “personal piggy bank” to fund a lavish lifestyle, including spending US$35 million on a fleet of jets, US$1 million on a cruise for employees and US$1.5 million on a vacation in China for his staff.
In a separate civil lawsuit, the SEC alleged Pang and his companies have been engaged in the fraudulent offering of securities for at least five years, raising hundreds of millions of dollars from investors mostly living in Taiwan. In one case, investors were presented with a forged US$108 million insurance policy to support a false claim that an investment was guaranteed, while the actual insurance policy was valued at US$31 million, the SEC said.
Pang first appeared in the news when his wife, 33-year-old former topless dancer Janie Louise Pang, was shot and killed in their home in 1997.
Pang’s attorney, Hugh “Randy” McDonald, was charged with the killing, but the jury could not reach a verdict and prosecutors did not attempt to try him again.
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
OBJECTS AT SEA: Satellites with synthetic-aperture radar could aid in the detection of small Chinese boats attempting to illegally enter Taiwan, the space agency head said Taiwan aims to send the nation’s first low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite into space in 2027, while the first Formosat-8 and Formosat-9 spacecraft are to be launched in October and 2028 respectively, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council laid out its space development plan in a report reviewed by members of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee. Six LEO satellites would be produced in the initial phase, with the first one, the B5G-1A, scheduled to be launched in 2027, the council said in the report. Regarding the second satellite, the B5G-1B, the government plans to work with private contractors
MISSION: The Indo-Pacific region is ‘the priority theater,’ where the task of deterrence extends across the entire region, including Taiwan, the US Pacific Fleet commander said The US Navy’s “mission of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific theater applies to Taiwan, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler told the South China Sea Conference on Tuesday. The conference, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is an international platform for senior officials and experts from countries with security interests in the region. “The Pacific Fleet’s mission is to deter aggression across the Western Pacific, together with our allies and partners, and to prevail in combat if necessary, Koehler said in the event’s keynote speech. “That mission of deterrence applies regionwide — including the South China Sea and Taiwan,” he
‘NARWHAL’: The indigenous submarine completed its harbor acceptance test recently and is now under heavy guard as it undergoes tests in open waters, a source said The Hai Kun (海鯤), the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, yesterday began sea trials, sailing out of the Port of Kaohsiung, a military source said. Also known as the “Narwhal,” the vessel departed from CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard at about 8am, where it had been docked. More than 10 technicians and military personnel were on deck, with several others standing atop the sail. After recently completing its harbor acceptance test, the vessel has started a series of sea-based trials, including tests of its propulsion and navigational systems, while partially surfaced, the source said. The Hai Kun underwent tests in the port from
RSS