Chinese investors attack bestselling financial author they blame for ‘40 billion yuan losses’
Song Hongbing says his clothes were torn and glasses trampled on by group of people who claim they invested in metal exchange after he praised company at centre of investment scandal
A high-profile Chinese author of a controversial financial bestseller claims his clothes were torn and his glasses trampled on after he was attacked by angry investors who blame him for them losing 40 billion yuan [HK$48 billion].
Song Hongbing said he was assaulted on Saturday while giving a talk at a hotel in Taiyuan, in Shanxi province, by the investors who bought shares in financial products managed by Fanya Metal Exchange, which is at the centre of an investment scandal.
Read more: ‘I didn’t take the money’: head of China’s Fanya Metals Exchange claims innocence in the face of 36 billion yuan debts
They claim he had previously publicly praised the exchange selling rare metals, which led them to make their investments.
Song denied misleading investors in a statement on weibo, and said the angry crowd tore his clothes and trampled on his glasses before forcing him to sign a letter of apology in which he promised to help the investors recover their losses.
He said he had reported the incident to police.
He said he was taking part in a question-and-answer session when a large group of people that had invested in Fanya financial products showed up and unfurled banners with words that alleged: “Fanya defrauded us of 40 billion [yuan].”
The exchange centre based in Kunming, Yunnan province, offered investment products in rare metals and other elements - products in which hundreds of thousands of people have investing billions of yuan in recent years.
Read more: Fanya Exchange’s 36 billion yuan default ‘tip of iceberg’ in China
However, the exchange’s funds were frozen in July as a result of liquidity problems. Since then hundreds of investors, who have found themselves unable to withdraw their money, have protested out on the streets of Beijing and Shanghai against the exchange.
On Saturday, they vented their anger on Song, who they claimed had once praised Fanya’s investment model and led them to buy its products.
Song was invited by the exchange to give a speech about financial investment in Kunming in October 2014. During his speech, he expressed his confidence in precious metal investment, and called Fanya’s investment model “internet finance”.
Song denied that he had spoken out in favour of Fanya during his speech.
“I once accepted Fanya’s invitation through a third party to give a lecture analysing the economic situation, but I don’t own any shares in Fanya, nor do I share its profits in any other way. I don’t know Fanya’s management team, its organisational structure or its investment model at all,” he said in his statement.
“Also, I never induced investors to invest in Fanya’s products during my talk, which was focused on popularising financial knowledge and analysing the international economic and financial situation,” he said.
In Currency Wars and its four sequels, Song claimed that the opaque group of bankers used “currency manipulation” to milk profits from developing countries, including China, and destroy their economies.
His first book became a big success and ended up on the reading list of senior government officials.
