wang

"What happened to Jianping?"   "Shut up and keep laughing."


The Senior Partner of King Wood & Mallesons in China has been denounced by a judge as a liar, and the firm has wiped his profile from its website.

Wang Jianping studied at Harvard and worked in the US as a sole practitioner before returning to China and joining KWM, where he was appointed to the firm's management committee. 

But now he is gone, and although KWM is refusing to say why, a judgment published this week may provide a clue.

In a ruling handed down by the High Court of the British Virgin Islands, Justice Adrian Jack said Wang had exhibited "a complete absence of integrity" after acquiring valuable shares in Lunan, a giant Chinese pharmaceutical company.

In 2001 Wang befriended Lunan's founder, Zhao Zhiquan, while the magnate was looking to transfer over 25% of Lunan’s shares to a US company for tax purposes. Wang and his wife owned just such a company, and although its main asset was a small shopping mall in Illinois, Zhao decided it was the appropriate vehicle to hold his shares.

Zhao died of cancer in 2014 and left the shares to his daughter, Zhao Long, but by that time Wang had repositioned them via a complex web of trusts, transfers and holding companies.

As Ms Zhao tried to establish her ownership, Lunan erupted into "chaos" as two factions of executives battled to fill the power vacuum left by her father, with the corporate hijinks extending to one executive breaking into Zhao's desk, which had been left untouched since his death three years earlier.

While working at KWM, Wang simultaneously navigated the feuding Lunan executives and positioned himself as a future leader of the company, but attempts to dislodge Ms Zhao backfired.

His relationship with her soured in 2015 when he suggested during a meeting at KWM's Hong Kong office that her interest in Lunan should be concealed in a trust named after his wife. It deteriorated further when he asked her to sign a document to deal with her shares in the event of her death.

The judge said Wang was "in many ways a remarkable man" whose mastery of US and Chinese law proved he was "an exceptionally skilled lawyer", but, "despite his eminence as a lawyer, I regret to say that his evidence and actions show in my judgment a complete absence of integrity".  

In his ruling, the judge said that Wang and his wife had committed a "deliberate breach" of their disclosure obligations by not promptly revealing the existence of a case in China which Lunan had won by hiding Ms Zhao's claim. 

Ruling in favour of Ms Zhao, he said that Wang's conduct "may well be a criminal contempt of Court".

Residual snippets mentioning Wang still appear on Google, but all mention of the partner has now been wiped from KWM's site. The firm did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

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Comments

Someone who knows these people in person 30 July 21 16:06

He is no ordinary lawyer. He has connection to one of the most powerful politician in China. In 2017 Zhao Long complained to KWM (the law firm) and the Linyi government in China, but to no avail. 
 

She had to escape China in 2017, fearing for her life. She is now a US citizen so I guess she is safe now.

Additional info. 30 July 21 16:22

And Wang also included his own daughter as beneficiary, and appointed himself as protector with authority to add/remove beneficiary with discretion.

Additional info. 30 July 21 16:50

This is by no means the only case. Wang […] got super rich. He owns mansions in Beijing, Shandong, Hainan… 

He failed this time because the trial was in BVI and Zhao Long herself is a lawyer (U Minnesota Law School class of 2015).

And trust me, he will not be prosecuted in China. His connection makes it impossible to prosecute him—the only person capable of that is the Chinese president himself. (This should give you some idea about his connection. Hint: who is the 2nd most powerful politician in China?)

Anonymous 01 August 21 04:26

A senior lawyer trusted by the family raising the family trust and substituting his wife’s name as the beneficiary, and having the gall to fight everything in court!  Won’t be surprised to see a movie made out of this in a few years. 

Anonymous 02 August 21 10:02

Trust me, he will not have a movie made about him . His connection makes it impossible to film him—the only person capable of that is the American president himself. (This should give you some idea about his connection. Hint: who is the 2nd most powerful politician in America?

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