Lai Changxing
Lai Changxing (born September 15, 1958) is a former Chinese businessman and entrepreneur. He was the founder and Chairman of Yuanhua Group, based in the Special Economic Zone of Xiamen. He imported foreign products like cars, cigarettes and was responsible for one-sixth of the national oil imports at one time. In the late 1990s, he was implicated in corruption scandals involving a large smuggling ring. By 1999, he was described by several media organizations as "China's most wanted fugitive".
Lai Changxing | |||||||||||
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| Born | September 15, 1958 Jinjiang, Fujian, China | ||||||||||
| Occupation(s) | Businessman, smuggler | ||||||||||
| Criminal charge | Bribery | ||||||||||
| Criminal penalty | Life imprisonment | ||||||||||
| Spouse | (divorced) | ||||||||||
| Children | 3 | ||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 賴昌星 | ||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 赖昌星 | ||||||||||
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Lai evaded Chinese authorities and went to Canada, where he resided in Vancouver, British Columbia. After a lengthy extradition battle and diplomatic negotiations, Canadian authorities deported him to China on July 22, 2011, upon promises that he would not be executed. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2012.