Chinese police detain chairman of Anbang, which sought ties with Jared Kushner
14 Jun 2017
Police in China have detained the chairman of a Chinese financial conglomerate who tried to forge a business relationship with President Trump's son-in-law.
Chairman of Anbang Insurance Group, Wu Xiaohui was taken away on Friday in Beijing, according to Caijing, a respected newsmagazine. In a statement yesterday, the company said Wu was ''for personal reasons no longer able to perform his duties.''
Two people who were briefed on the matter - a company executive and a business partner of Anbang - confirmed that Wu had been detained.
Wu, who had been instrumental in Anbang's rapid rise to global prominence, is the latest Chinese tycoon to be ensnared in an anti-corruption drive that had swept the country in recent years. In an earlier action of the kind, another one of China's wealthiest and most politically connected financiers, Xiao Jianhua, was reportedly seized from his luxury hotel in Hong Kong by Chinese police officers and taken over the border in January and had not been seen publicly since.
According to commentators, the detention of Wu was likely to reverberate through business circles in China and the US.
According to Anbang, Wu's duties would be managed by other senior executives, and its business was operating normally. The company did not provide any other details.
The Beijing-based company shot into the public eye with its 2015 purchase of New York's landmark Waldorf Astoria hotel.
Following a successful deal-making run worth over $30 billion, Anbang ran into some roadblocks and failed to close on a handful of investments. It also faced severe criticism over its opaque shareholding structure.
Asked by Reuters if Wu was within China or if he could be reached, a spokesperson for Anbang - which employs over 30,000 people and manages 1.97 trillion yuan ($290 billion) in assets, said the company has nothing to add.
