Advertisement
China entertainment crackdown: Taiwan celebrity couple fined US$3.3 million and have 96 Shanghai properties seized during an investigation into alleged pyramid scheme
- The famous Taiwanese couple bought the property in 2020 but they were frozen in July 2021
- The couple were fined 21 million yuan (US$3.27 million) on April 9 for the pyramid scheme
Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
5
Authorities seized 96 office properties last year during an investigation into an alleged pyramid scheme by a Taiwanese celebrity couple.
The offices, owned by Zhang Ting and her husband, Kevin Lin Ruiyang, both former actors, are located in a prime Shanghai district and are valued at around 1.7 billion yuan (US$265 million), according to mainland media reports.
They were seized in July 2021 when a market regulator in Hebei province, in north China, launched an investigation into the couple’s company Shanghai Dowell Trading. Zhang, 51, and Lin, 61, bought the properties in 2020.
Advertisement
The couple were also fined 21 million yuan (US$3.27 million) on April 9 for running a pyramid scheme, according to mainland reports.
On top of seizing their properties, authorities of Hebei also froze the couple’s other assets worth 600 million yuan (US$93.5 million) at the end of last year as part of the investigation into the alleged pyramid selling.
Advertisement
The couple became famous on the mainland for starring in a number of TV series in the 1980s and 1990s. They then leveraged their celebrity status to start a business empire on the mainland, launching the Tin’Secret brand under Shanghai Dowell Trading in 2013.
Advertisement
Select Voice
Select Speed
1.00x