Li Xiaopeng -- who previously served as Everbright's party secretary and chairman -- is being probed by Beijing's anti-corruption watchdog the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI).
He is "under investigation for suspected severe violations of party discipline and laws", a statement by the commission said. It did not share further details.
Trained as an economist, Li has spent most of his career in the finance industry.
He served in leadership positions at several major Chinese banks, before retiring from the chairmanship at China Everbright in March 2022.
The CCDI in March said it would launch an "inspection tour" targeting 30 state-owned-enterprises, including China Everbright Group and other major players in the country's financial sector.
The news follows the announcement last week that Liu Liange, former chairman of the Bank of China, was also under investigation for "suspected severe violations of party discipline and the country's laws".
And it also comes after the disappearance of Bao Fan, the billionaire chairman and executive director of investment bank China Renaissance, who was later revealed to be "cooperating" in an official investigation.
China Renaissance suspended trading in its Hong Kong-listed shares on Monday, saying the disappearance of its chairman meant it was unable to publish its annual results.
And Bao is far from the first high-profile Chinese financier to fall foul of the authorities in recent years as President Xi Jinping leads an aggressive crackdown on alleged corruption.
In 2017, Chinese-Canadian businessman Xiao Jianhua was arrested by mainland authorities, receiving a 13-year jail sentence for corruption in August.
US unveils fraud case against CEO of startup bought by JPMorgan Chase
New York (AFP) April 4, 2023 -
US officials unveiled criminal charges Tuesday against the head of a startup who allegedly defrauded JPMorgan Chase in the course of a $175 million sale to the banking giant.
Charlie Javice, 31, was scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday in US magistrate court following her arrest Monday night, according to a Department of Justice news release.
Once a high-flyer named as part of the Forbes "30 Under 30" list, Javice touted her Frank online platform as a way to simplify the complicated process of filling out the US application for financial aid
During talks with JPMorgan and another major bank that did not pursue an acquisition, Javice "repeatedly" represented that Frank had 4.25 million users.
In fact, the platform had fewer than 300,000, according to US charges unsealed Tuesday.
"Frank was an appealing acquisition target for JPMorgan due to the marketing potential of Frank's large -- according to Javice -- customer base, which consisted of young and diverse students," the filing said.
When JPMorgan sought to verify Frank's user base, Javice "fabricated" a data set, the DOJ said.
After Frank's director of engineering declined the request, citing concerns about illegality, Javice hired an outside data scientist to "create the synthetic data set," DOJ said.
"As alleged, Javice engaged in a brazen scheme to defraud JPMorgan in the course of a $175 million acquisition deal," said US Attorney Damian Williams.
"This arrest should warn entrepreneurs who lie to advance their businesses that their lies will catch up to them, and this Office will hold them accountable for putting their greed above the law."
Javice was charged with four counts of fraud, with potential sentencing of 20-30 years per charge.
In a parallel case, the Securities and Exchange Commission asked a US court to bar Javice from serving as an officer or director of a public company and civil penalties.
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