Investors Commit Suicide After Becoming Victims of Investment Frau

An investment firm in Shanghai has seen its financial management products failing, causing many investors to lose all their money. News has since broken out that two elderly people in Yancheng City, Jiangsu Province, who could not bear the situation committed suicide by jumping from a building. According to the data, Yinlai Assets Management Co. Ltd. had made investments in 16 companies and wholly owned seven of them, including Yinlai Wealth in Shanghai that specializes in assets management, wealth management, investment banking, and internet finance. Since 2018, there have been instances of investors reporting that the financial products they purchased with Yinlai Wealth were overdue and not able to be paid back. Some of the victims said that many investors, some from other cities, all went to the offices defend their rights but their efforts were frequently suppressed by the local authorities. One victim, Wang Yan, is a salesperson at Yinlai Wealth in Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province. She said that Yinlai Wealth's asset investors exceeded 10,000 people and involved in more than 3 billion yuan (US$418 million). She personally had invested more than 700,000 yuan (US$97,700) and introduced five clients to the company. Now she cannot get her money back. She continued saying: “The client was throwing a tantrum at my house, telling me to ask for the money. I could not do anything. My parents are not healthy either, they both are more than 80 years old. The client told me that if the money is gone, her life is gone, too. We have been writing letters, more than a thousand letters, but still heard nothing.” On May 6, Wang Yan and hundreds of investors went to a police station in Shanghai, holding signs and kneeling to demand compensation for the damages left by the company. But were violently dispersed by the police. Li Ming, who runs a clothing business in Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province, said he initially saw a photo of the bank owner, Pao Xiaodong, with a leader of the Chinese Communist Party, and also saw Yinlai Wealth's business certificate, business license, and many honorary certificates, so he believed in the company. Not only did he invest 1.1 million yuan (US$150,000) himself but also introduced four friends to invest. Li Ming further said: “In the group of investors, the highest investment was more than 40 million yuan and there were investments of 20 million yuan and 30 million yuan. A professor at China University of Mining and Technology invested more than 10 million yuan. China University of Mining and Technology has been hit the hardest because many professors, retired seniors, old party members, and old cadres are victims.” Li Ming said that the victims involved came from different parts of the society, and his friend told him that two elderly people in Yancheng City had been unable to withstand their new financial reality and committed suicide by jumping down from a building. The CCP’s mouthpiece media claimed on March 17 that Yinlai Assets Management Co. Ltd. had set up a private online platform called "Pocket Gold" and an offline store named "Yinlai Wealth" to sell various financial management products. It reported that the funds had been raised illegally with the promise of paying high returns, ranging from 6 percent to 13 percent as bait. Nine suspects have now been arrested.