Anbang’s ex-chief Wu Xiaohui sentenced to 18 years behind bars for US$12 billion fraud, embezzlement
Prison term completes the downfall of one of China’s most famous tycoons and closes another chapter in Beijing’s crackdown on high-level fraud and corruption
Wu Xiaohui, the former chairman of beleaguered insurance giant Anbang Group, has been sentenced to 18 years behind bars for fraud and embezzlement worth more than US$12 billion.
He will also have assets worth 10.5 billion yuan (US$1.65 billion) confiscated, Xinhua, China’s official state news agency, reported on Thursday.
He forgot he was the senior manager chosen by a powerful group to make money, and mistook himself as the power itself
Wu, who was once at the helm of one of China’s most aggressive asset buyers, was put on trial in the No.1 Intermediate People’s Court in Shanghai in late March, charged with illegal fundraising, fraud worth 65.2 billion yuan (US$10.24 billion) and embezzling 10 billion yuan from Anbang’s insurance premium income.
Anbang, founded in 2004, has grown from a seller of car insurance into one of China’s largest insurance providers, holding nearly 2 trillion yuan in assets. The Beijing-based insurer was known for an aggressive global buying spree in recent years, which included the acquisition of the New York’s Waldorf Astoria hotel in 2014 for almost US$2 billion.
Prosecutors in the case said Wu had severely harmed “the safety of investors’ capital” and “crushed national financial security”.
The top banking and insurance regulator said in April that it will inject 60.8 billion yuan into the beleaguered insurer to ensure its solvency.