Two men charged in US over 2018 kidnapping of Chinese national Ruochen Liao

The Chinese luxury car dealer went missing after a US$2 million ransom demand, and his body was later found in California’s Mojave Desert

Two Chinese nationals were accused last year of orchestrating the abduction, and the two men charged on Wednesday are believed to have assisted them

Reading Time:4 minutes

Chinese national Ruochen “Tony” Liao, 28, who worked at a luxury car dealership, died in 2018 after being abducted in California by three men demanding a US$2 million ransom. Photo: AFP

Published: 2:39pm, 16 Jul 2020Updated: 2:39pm, 16 Jul 2020

US federal authorities on Wednesday charged two men with helping to abduct a Southern California car dealer who was held for US$2 million ransom, beaten, killed and buried in the Mojave Desert.

Anthony Valladares, 28, and Alexis Ivan Romero Velez, 24, were arrested on Tuesday and charged in federal court with kidnapping. A lawyer for Valladares declined to comment, and a lawyer representing Velez did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

On the evening of July 16, 2018, a friend dropped off Ruochen “Tony” Liao, a Chinese national who sold high-end cars in Southern California, at the San Gabriel Square shopping plaza to meet a man he believed would help him collect a debt, an FBI agent wrote in an affidavit. The friend watched Liao, 28, climb into a dark-coloured minivan and drive off. It was the last he – or anyone else – would see of Liao.

In court documents, prosecutors and agents have alleged that two Chinese nationals, Guangyao Yang and Peicheng Shen, orchestrated Liao’s abduction, using Valladares as “muscle” and Romero as a driver.

Yang, 26, and Shen, 34, have been charged in Los Angeles with kidnapping and extortion. Both men are currently in Chinese custody. Shen was arrested in January 2019 and began talking to Chinese authorities. FBI Special Agent Alejandra Sanchez described his account in an affidavit filed in federal court.

Shen told the authorities that he and Yang had recruited Valladares, who worked at a UFC gym in Rosemead that the two frequented, by promising him cash and marijuana for his help in abducting Liao.

Valladares had asked if anyone was going to get hurt, Shen said. He told Valladares no. The two bought a taser at a gun shop, and Valladares bought an old revolver and six bullets, Shen told Chinese authorities.