An Auckland firm concealed millions of dollars belonging to Edward Gong, who is accused of and denies running a $202m pyramid scheme. Photo / Supplied
An Auckland firm concealed millions of dollars belonging to Edward Gong, who is accused of and denies running a $202m pyramid scheme. Photo / Supplied
An Auckland finance firm and its mother and son owners can now be revealed as the company and pair who failed to report $53.4 million of suspicious transactions from a Chinese-Canadian mogul accused of running a $200m pyramid scheme.
Today, the Herald can reveal their identities after an interim suppression order lapsed at 4pm.
Jiaxin Finance, the 40-year-old Fu and the 65-year-old Che failed to keep adequate records for and report 311 suspicious transactions.
They also failed to conduct customer due diligence and structured transactions in an effort to avoid its Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act (AML/CFT) requirements as a money remitter.
They did so for a customer, whom defence counsel David Jones QC described during the trial as "the elephant in the room".
"He is an international businessman, a very wealthy man, owning substantial assets. That of course is significant and important in terms of the transactions undertaken."
Qiang Fu, also known as Michael Fu, and his mother Fuqin Che were on trial in the High Court at Auckland this year. Photo / NZ Herald
Also known as Edward Gong, the entrepreneur is known for building a business empire through a hotel chain and television channels in Toronto.
He is friendly with Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau - having donated to the governing Liberal Party - and attended Trudeau's controversial "cash-for-access fundraising dinners".
But Gong was arrested in Canada and charged with fraud and money laundering in December 2017 over an alleged pyramid scheme involving the "fraudulent sale of hundreds of millions of dollars" in shares in China.
He has denied his financial success and influence was gained from an alleged $202m scheme selling medicines in China.
Nine months before Gong's arrest in Canada, however, the New Zealand Police froze nearly $70m of the mogul's assets here as part of a global investigation into the businessman.
Gong had also bought two Auckland properties, in Panmure and East Tamaki, in 2012 and 2015.
He paid in cash - a total of $2.3m for both homes.
At Jiaxin Finance's trial during October in the High Court at Auckland, the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) accused the company of having "intentionally concealed" Gong's money in New Zealand with the help Che and Fu.
While Fu was the company director, Gong's primary contact in New Zealand was Che, the court heard. A shell office in Auckland was also kept for the sole benefit of the mogul during the company's offending in 2015 and 2016.
Xiao Hua Gong, or Edward Gong, far left, attending fundraisers with Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Photo / Dawa News
Court documents, which were reported by the Herald after the lifting of a suppression order last June, showed Gong deposited $77m into New Zealand over seven years.
Nearly $12m was later transferred from New Zealand to Canada.
Police allege Gong was hiding money here to distance himself from the alleged pyramid scheme.
"The pyramid scheme involved the making of representations to potential investors which were false and dishonest, including a claim that the company share price would increase by 2000 to 4000 per cent and that the products sold were legitimate health products, which they were not," Justice Paul Davison wrote in a High Court judgment, summarising the police case.
"Instead of applying investment funds in the manner represented to investors, the majority of the funds were paid into bank accounts nominated and controlled by [Gong]."
There were at least 50,000 investors in the alleged fraud, according to police.
The trial of Jiaxin Finance, Fu and Che was the first case of its kind in New Zealand's courts since specific anti-money laundering laws were introduced a decade ago.
Jiaxin Finance, Fu and Che were not convicted by Justice Tracey Walker on Friday to allow Jones to seek instructions from his clients about the precedent-setting case before a sentencing hearing in February.
