For years, Linda He helped wealthy Chinese move their money overseas and secure investment visas and citizenship. Her company, Wailian Group, with headquarters in Shanghai and offices in Vancouver, boasted of being able to deliver results within days, without the client even needing to leave China.
Ms. He was feted as a business leader and philanthropist in both China and the United States, with apparent connections to influential people such as Henry Kissinger. At the height of the saga over Beijing’s detention of Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, Wailian hired John McCallum, Ottawa’s former ambassador to Beijing, to promote Canada as a destination for Chinese émigrés.
Last week, reports began to spread that Ms. He had been arrested in Shanghai and her company raided, as Beijing moves to limit capital outflow amid a broader economic downturn. The news sent a ripple of alarm through Chinese expat communities, with some warning those with undeclared foreign residences or citizenship not to travel home.
Source:
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-linda-he-wailian-group-china/
As the dust settles following the Chinese government’s arrest of Wailian Group President Linda He—whose company, one of the country’s most successful investment-migration firms, has purportedly served more than 5,000 investors—the EB-5 and citizenship-by-investment (“CBI”) communities have begun to reassess the possible impact of this news vis-a-vis the Chinese market. Many insiders foresee a slowdown of EB-5 and CBI activity from China, though others suggest there is not enough information to make a clear prediction.
The Chinese are getting more desperate with any passing day.
Ms. He was feted as a business leader and philanthropist in both China and the United States, with apparent connections to influential people such as Henry Kissinger. At the height of the saga over Beijing’s detention of Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, Wailian hired John McCallum, Ottawa’s former ambassador to Beijing, to promote Canada as a destination for Chinese émigrés.
Last week, reports began to spread that Ms. He had been arrested in Shanghai and her company raided, as Beijing moves to limit capital outflow amid a broader economic downturn. The news sent a ripple of alarm through Chinese expat communities, with some warning those with undeclared foreign residences or citizenship not to travel home.
Source:
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-linda-he-wailian-group-china/
As the dust settles following the Chinese government’s arrest of Wailian Group President Linda He—whose company, one of the country’s most successful investment-migration firms, has purportedly served more than 5,000 investors—the EB-5 and citizenship-by-investment (“CBI”) communities have begun to reassess the possible impact of this news vis-a-vis the Chinese market. Many insiders foresee a slowdown of EB-5 and CBI activity from China, though others suggest there is not enough information to make a clear prediction.
The Chinese are getting more desperate with any passing day.