Another Chinese billionaire is in trouble. Li Zhaoting, former richest man in Shijiazhuang and founder and chairman of Dongxu Group, was suddenly detained. In 2019, he became the wealthiest man in Shijiazhuang with a fortune of 23.5 billion yuan.
On the evening of February 13th this year, Shanghai Jialinjie Textile Co., Ltd. (Jialinjie, 002486.SZ) issued a sudden announcement stating that its actual controller, Li Zhaoting, had been taken into custody by the Shijiazhuang Public Security Bureau on the same day, and the case is currently under investigation.
The announcement did not disclose the reason why Li Zhaoting was detained, while emphasizing that Li Zhaoting does not hold a specific position at Jialinjie, no change in the company’s controlling rights has occurred, production and operation remain normal, and no investigation assistance notice has been received.
It is reported that Li Zhaoting controls 21.229% of Jialinjie through Dongxu Group and its holding subsidiary, Shanghai Guojun Investment, making him the actual controller.
Public records show that Li Zhaoting, born in 1965, graduated from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Hebei University of Technology. He worked at a diesel engine factory in Shijiazhuang in his early years. At the age of 32, he resigned to start his own business, and in 1997 founded Dongxu Group with his wife, Li Qing. Dongxu Group later became a leading enterprise in the liquid crystal glass substrate industry.
In 2019, Li Zhaoting became the richest man in Shijiazhuang with a fortune of 23.5 billion yuan. At its peak, the couple’s wealth exceeded 22 billion yuan, ranking 837th on the Hurun Global Rich List.
According to reports from mainland media, from 2015 to 2019, under Li Zhaoting’s leadership, Dongxu Group engaged in large-scale financial fraud through fictitious business and false accounting methods, with a total inflated revenue of 47.825 billion yuan, inflated profits of 13.001 billion yuan, and a peak annual fake currency fund increase of 44.79 billion yuan. Dongxu Group fraudulently issued corporate bonds worth 3.5 billion yuan in 2018, and its subsidiary, Dongxu Optoelectronics, illegally raised 7.565 billion yuan through non-public stock issuance in 2017.
Additionally, Dongxu Group has long-term unauthorized use of funds from Dongxu Optoelectronics and Dongxu Lantian, with an outstanding amount not returned totaling 16.959 billion yuan as of the time of the incident, leading to the delisting of the two listed companies in 2024.
In June 2025, the Hebei and Shenzhen Securities Regulatory Commissions fined a total of 1.7 billion yuan to Li Zhaoting and 43 other responsible parties, setting a record for the highest penalty in a single capital market case in recent years. Li Zhaoting was personally fined 590 million yuan and, along with four others, was subjected to a lifelong ban from the securities market.