The raid on Apple Daily is the latest in a series of blows that maverick tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying says are costing him tens of millions a month.
The up-and-down fortunes of his empire have been pushed to the extreme since the debacle that followed the launch nearly six months ago of shop-from-home service AdMart.
Recent thorns in Mr Lai's resilient side include the crashing of AdMart's Web site when demand for its delivery service exceeded expectations.
That was followed by embarrassing revelations that AdMart was selling fake cognac and counterfeit wine.
All this amid a fierce price war with Li Ka-shing's ParknShop and Jardine Matheson-owned Wellcome. Mr Lai says the retail giants are fighting dirty by ordering associated companies to pull advertising from Apple Daily.
'Maybe it's a conspiracy, but not in the sense that it's secret. It's not, they're out to crush me,' he told Asiaweek magazine last week.