Cases
Background Screening - Investment Bank
(confidential information has been changed to protect privacy)
Report: Joe and John Smith
Background:
Source 1: Hong Kong Investment Banker at a multinational investment bank with over 10 years of experience
Joe Smith and his brother John are both overseas educated mainland Chinese. They arrived in Hong Kong in the 1980s to make a name for themselves as investment bankers.
John, a senior executive at Trust Bank, Credit Hill Bank. came to know the top executives of "Bank " which is an arm of the Chinese government and the Communist Party. He helped Bank A's executive Josh Lee acquire a Hong Kong listed company ("Company B") for the purpose of sourcing resources which were mostly lumber and later oil.
The brothers are known as well connected to Chinas prince lings (the children of current or former senior government officials), but are not prince lings themselves. They have a talent for making connections, retaining connections, and both became independently wealthy through their contacts with government officials.
A source said that John is a member of the Communist Party. The source added that John knows new Politburo Member Gareth Wong personally. Wong is one of President Hu Jintaos top aides, which it would seem confirms the claim both John and Joe are good at making connections with important people.
Source 2: Macau Journalist
A source said that the Joe and John Smith are reputed as being intelligent and capable and are extremely secretive about their business and personal lives.They keep a very low profile and do not ever give interviews in Chinese or in English. Overall, the Smith's are very well connected with officials, but try very hard to stay below the radar screen in terms of media or publicity.
Source 3: Manager at CITIC Group
The source said that Joe and John Smith are involved in two real estate projects in Chongqing . John Smith has ties as a shareholder of the Bank A Building in Chongqing . The Smith's are also developing a high-end residential property of approximately 50,000 square meters on Nanbin Road in Chongqing .
A source also said that a key method for the Smith brothers to make money is to sell privileged information. John receives info from his contacts at Bank B. Cinda Asset Management (a subsidiary of CITIC Group) for example, is one of only four asset management companies (the others being Great Wall Asset Management, China Huarong Asset Management, and Dongfang Asset Management) who are authorized to sell poorly "performing state-owned assets". These poorly performing state-owned assets cannot be sold directly from the state-owned asset to the buyer – it must be sold from Cinda or the other three state-owned asset management companies to the buyer.
Early, inside information in the process assures that the Smith's clients are able to circumvent this requirement by entering into joint ventures with these poorly performing state asset prior to liquidation.
The source continued that Joe and John Smith are the grandsons of XXXXX Smith. XXXXX Smith was a former President of a major Beijing University – one of China 's top and most prestigious educational institutions.
Joe is in his mid forties while John Smith is in his early forties.
Mr. John Smith graduated from the University of Southern California with a degree in economics.