Recently, a large number of investors gathered in front of Building A, Xizi International Center, No. 9 Jingdong Road, Shangcheng District, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province to demand their rights due to the payment crisis of gold products under Hangzhou Overseas Chinese Holdings Group Co., Ltd. (referred to as “Overseas Chinese Holdings”) which left them empty-handed.
Investors have been mobilizing for rights protection since October 21, with nearly daily visits from people seeking to recover their hard-earned money. Xu Yun (pseudonym), an investor from Hangzhou, visited the site on the 21st and 22nd of the month. She explained the situation to a reporter.
Xu Yun started investing in Overseas Chinese Holdings’ gold products in 2022, putting in over 2 million yuan. By the end of August this year, when one of her gold products matured, she didn’t pay much attention and didn’t withdraw the interest. On September 9, when she tried to withdraw, she found out that the funds would be available on the 11th, but even on the 12th, the interest money did not arrive. Upon inquiring with customer service, she was informed that the company was in trouble, and two executives were not reachable.
Upon hearing this news, Xu Yun was initially not too concerned, thinking she could eventually retrieve her money, but as it emerged that their contracts were fraudulent, everyone started to worry.
Investors started to organize collective rights-protection efforts. According to Xu Yun, there were individuals in the rights-protection group trying to hinder their activities, threatening them that gathering could be illegal or seen as unauthorized fundraising.
On the 21st, when she went to the site, she saw about two to three hundred investors engaged in rights protection, with a large number of police officers present. Six people displayed a banner reading “Return our hard-earned money from Chinese Gold.” Eventually, three individuals were apprehended, and on the 22nd, Xu Yun and dozens of other investors returned to Xizi International Center.
“When we were downstairs at Xizi, standing there without any action, suddenly a few people rushed up and took two individuals away, and there were summonses; they were targeting certain individuals,” Xu Yun said.
It’s been reported that a total of five individuals have been taken into custody over two days, with three fined and released, while the other two remain detained.
Xu Yun expressed uncertainty about how they could recover their hard-earned money, with little to no chance of organizing larger protest activities.
According to information from the Overseas Chinese Holdings official website, the company was established in 2013, with shareholders including China Overseas Public Welfare Foundation, China Construction Investment Management (Tianjin) Co., Ltd., Zhejiang Yihua Industry Co., Ltd., Guotai Investment Management (Shanghai) Partnership Enterprise, with registered capital of 238 million yuan. It operates six main business sectors under its umbrella, including Overseas Chinese Fund, Overseas Chinese Private Equity Fund (formerly Overseas Chinese Wealth), Overseas Chinese Currency, Overseas Chinese Assets, Overseas Chinese Venture Capital, and Aoniu Technology.
Tianyancha data shows that the actual controller of Overseas Chinese Holdings is Yang Yuxiao, holding 43.56% of the shares, making him the controlling shareholder; while Yu Zengyun holds 30.94% of the shares, being the second largest shareholder and serving as the legal representative of Overseas Chinese Holdings. Both individuals are currently untraceable.
As revealed by Xu Yun, the payment crisis of the “Overseas Chinese series” involved an estimated amount of around 7 billion yuan, with approximately 5,000 victims across multiple regions like Beijing, Sichuan, Guizhou, and Zhejiang. “On September 6, two executives went missing, reportedly being directed to flee,” she said.
According to a fundraising prospectus from earlier this year, the total cumulative management scale of two fund managers under the Overseas Chinese Holdings Group amounts to approximately 20 billion yuan, with assets under management exceeding 7 billion yuan.
Another investor, Li Chen (pseudonym), mentioned that through a friend’s introduction, he invested about 140,000 yuan. His trust in the gold product was based on the endorsement of China Gold Group and its affiliated companies, which were in a cooperative relationship.
Xu Yun also noted that her decision to invest in the gold product was after careful investigation. It was her very first investment, as the involvement of China Gold Group and government officials vouching for it gave her confidence. The Overseas Chinese Fund had promised that upon contract maturity, investors could choose to withdraw cash or exchange for physical gold, and she had witnessed investors exchanging for gold in person.
Xu Yun revealed that she had purchased gold products from Qiaohang Tianxia and Dingxin Debt Assets, where companies under China Gold were partners and shareholders of Overseas Chinese Holdings included China Construction, China Overseas Public Welfare Foundation, and other state-owned enterprises.
The investors had purchased gold products online through an app. Qiaohang Tianxia’s app was launched by Aoniu Information Technology (Hangzhou) Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Overseas Chinese Holdings. The gold purchased by investors was leased and operated by Zhongxin International Financial Lease (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. (“Zhongxin Lease”).
Following the payment crisis of the “Overseas Chinese series,” China Gold Group issued a statement on September 23 to distance itself from Overseas Chinese Holdings. The statement clarified that the illegal activities of Overseas Chinese Fund Management Co., Ltd. and its affiliated enterprises were unrelated to China Gold Group, Zhongxin Lease, and China Gold Jewelry Beijing Co., Ltd., alleging that Overseas Chinese Fund had forged signatures and seals of China Gold, Zhongxin Lease, and China Gold Beijing.
However, in September 2017, Overseas Chinese Fund and China Gold Group reached a strategic cooperation agreement, with China Gold Group’s chairman and general manager at the signing, alongside Overseas Chinese Fund’s president, Yang Yuxiao, resulting in significant media coverage.
During the A-share listing ceremony of China Gold on February 5, 2021, high-ranking officials including Zhao Shitang, Deputy Secretary-General of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council and Director of the Financial Management and Operation Bureau, Lu Jin, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of China Gold Group, Liu Bing, General Manager of China Gold Group, Chen Xiongwei, Chairman of China Gold Jewelry, Yang Yuxiao, President of Overseas Chinese Fund, and Chinese Gold’s brand ambassador Liu Yifei were present.
Xu Yun voiced her frustration, saying, “Do we, the common people, lack clear vision? Or is it for some other reason? We don’t accept the idea of a collapse, we don’t accept fraud, and we don’t accept unauthorized fundraising, because this company is legitimate. It has been awarded high honors by the government, with too many high-ranking officials supporting it, including Liu Yifei coming forward to promote it.”
The attempt by China Gold Group and Overseas Chinese Holdings to distance themselves sparked outrage among investors, leading to large-scale rights-protection actions demanding accountability from China Gold.
Phone calls made to Overseas Chinese Holdings and China Gold Group went unanswered.
Xu Yun mentioned that almost all investors had put their life savings into this venture, bringing them suffering that they must endure alone.
As a result of this incident, her relationship with her husband became strained, with the husband demanding a divorce. The money was originally meant for their son’s wedding and house renovation. Now, not only is the house left unrenovated, but the son has also broken up with his girlfriend. Xu Yun now spends her days weeping in solitude.
She also shared other heartbreaking stories, such as an elderly couple who invested all their savings and are now ill, unable to afford medical treatment. Another investor, who poured in over 12 million yuan, had to sell a house at a loss of a million yuan to repay debts and now resides with their brother.
In a more tragic case, one investor’s father had a car accident and urgently needed medical treatment costing several hundred thousand yuan, leading the investor to seek help from others.
She further revealed the story of a female investor who, distraught over the investment failure, ended up in the hospital after a fall, feeling mentally detached, with thoughts of death.
“We are like sheared sheep, harvested for all we have,” Xu Yun lamented.