- Police in Shanghai have formally arrested Chinese real estate billionaire Wang Zhenhua on allegations of child molestation.
Police in Shanghai have formally arrested Chinese real estate billionaire Wang Zhenhua on allegations of child molestation.
CNN Business has been unable to contact a representative for Wang, and spokespeople for his companies have declined to comment beyond their official statements.
Future Land said in a stock exchange filing last week that it had removed Wang as chairman after being told he was detained in Shanghai for “personal reasons.”
It released an open letter in Chinese last Friday in which it apologized for its founder’s reported behavior and the “great suffering” he had caused the alleged victim and her family.
“We are deeply troubled, shocked and upset about the fact that it is our company’s founder who caused this storm,” the company said. “We, as well as the public, think juveniles are the future of society, and any behavior that harms them should be punished by the law.”
Shanghai police had earlier confirmed the detention of a man with the surname Wang but would not provide any other details.
The Xinmin Evening News — a local newspaper run by state-owned Shanghai United Media Group — previously reported that two girls were brought to Wang in a Shanghai hotel on June 29. The mother of one of the girls reported the alleged incident to the police, the newspaper reported.
Wang’s personal fortune has suffered a significant hit since news of his detention broke last week, shrinking by about $2 billion to around $4.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
