Chinese-Canadian billionaire, Xiao Jianhua, was sent to jail on corruption charges in 2022.
Xiao was sentenced to 13 years in prison and his corporate conglomerate, Tomorrow Group, was fined RMB 55.03 billion, or approximately $8 billion, after pleading guilty to bribery, illegally using funds, and other charges, according to a ruling from the Shanghai First Immediate People’s Court. Xiao, himself, was also fined RMB 6.5 million, or around $1 million, based on the court’s ruling.
Xiao’s appearance at the trial also marked his first public sighting since authorities took him from the Four Seasons Hotel in Hong Kong in February 2017, according to Bloomberg. He had been living since fleeing China years earlier, Bloomberg reported.
Xiao, who was born in China, passed the examination for the highly selective Peking University at the age of 14, according to The New York Times. He graduated with a degree in law, and sold personal computers, before founding Tomorrow Group in 1999, according to Caixin. The conglomerate eventually grew to have stakes in businesses across banking, securities, insurance, coal and real estate, Caixin reported.
By 2017, Xiao amassed a fortune of close to $6 billion according to the Hurun Report, which tracks China’s billionaires, though a person close to Xiao told The Times the report vastly understated his wealth.
He became a Canadian citizen around 2008 and also has a diplomatic passport to Antigua and Barbuda, according to Global News.
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