Chinese-Canadian billionaire sentenced to 13 years in prison for money misuse

The Chinese-born Canadian businessman who disappeared from Hong Kong in 2017 was sentenced to 13 years in prison on Friday for a series of financial crimes worth billions of dollars. His company was fined $8.1 billion by the court.

Xiao Jianhua misused billions of dollars in deposits from banks and insurance companies controlled by his Tomorrow Group to Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Court, an official, said on social media accounts:

According to the court, Xiao was fined his 6.5 million yuan ($950,000) and his company was fined his 55 billion yuan ($8.1 billion).

READ MORE: Canada Denies Access to Trial of Chinese-Canadian Billionaire, Embassy Says

Xiao was last seen in January 2017 at a hotel in Hong Kong and is believed to have been taken to the mainland by Chinese authorities. He is reportedly under investigation by anti-corruption authorities, but details have not been released.

Canadian government said diplomat was barred from attending his July 5 trial .

A series of anti-corruption prosecutions and seizures of financial firms by regulators.

Xiao and Tomorrow Group illicitly obtained more than 311.6 billion yuan ($46 billion) from ordinary citizens and entrusted property and money totaling 148.6 billion yuan (21.8 billion yuan), according to an announcement Friday. Dollar) was convicted of misuse.

Read more: Where is Xiao Jian Hua? Officials are tight-lipped about the 2017 kidnapping of a Canadian-Chinese tycoon

Shao faces a flurry of indictments against Chinese businessmen accused of wrongdoing disappeared in the middle.

This fueled speculation that the ruling Communist Party may be kidnapping people outside the mainland. activity was prohibited.

Since then, Beijing has tightened its control over Hong Kong, and when Hong Kong was handed back to China in 1997, In 2020, the Chinese Communist Party imposed a national security law on Hong Kong and imprisoned pro-democracy activists.

Hong Kong police investigated Mr. Xiao's disappearance and he crossed the border into the mainland. That same week, an advertisement in the Ming Pao newspaper bearing Xiao's name denied that Xiao was taken against his will.

At the time of his disappearance, Xiao's fortune had risen to nearly $6 billion, making him the 32nd richest person in China, according to his Hurun Report, which tracks China's wealthy. became.

In 2020, regulators seized nine of his companies controlled by Xiao.

Among them were four insurance companies, two securities companies, two trust companies, and one financial futures company. Business magazine Caixin reported at the time that the total amount of seized assets was about 1 billion yuan ($150 million).

Former banking regulator Xue Jining has been sued for 400 million yuan ($62 million) in a corruption case linked to Bao Shang Bank. ) in the northern region of Inner Mongolia seized from Tomorrow by regulators in 2019

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