The promise of building the interoceanic canal in Nicaragua, the smoke screen through which Nicaraguans became acquainted with the supposed Chinese billionaire, Wang Jing. However, this wasn’t the only entry in his record. Now, little is known about the businessman who swindled thousands of investors. He has “disappeared” from the public eye, and according to Chinese media reports, there are claims that he is living “a happy life” in the United States.
Last April, according to Chinese media, Xinwei Group, the company led by Wang Jing, was declared bankrupt, nearly three years after its listing on the Shanghai Stock Exchange was suspended in June 2021 due to “irregular financial activities,” which allegedly left a scam worth around $31 billion, in addition to concealing huge debts of his company Xinwei Group.
“Behind the bankruptcy of Xinwei Group, it can be said that the current controller Wang Jing is the most mysterious wealthy man in Chinese business history. Nobody knows his true origin, education, and professional experience,” said Sina Finance, owned by Sina Corporation, a prestigious telecommunications company in China.
Wang Jing’s scams included purported gold mine excavations, the promise of building an interoceanic canal in Nicaragua, and satellite launches. None of these materialized, and instead, he defrauded several governments and 150,000 shareholders of his companies, reaping tens of billions in deceitful profits. And then he disappeared.
How did he do it?
There are several theories about Wang Jing’s origins, but much mystery surrounds his background. He emerged in the business scene seemingly out of nowhere. Born in Beijing in 1972 to ordinary working-class parents, he enrolled at Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. However, his ambition led him to found his first company, “Beijing Changping Health Care Company,” whose primary business was actually a bathhouse.
“But Wang Jing is very good at branding himself. He presented himself as an expert in traditional Chinese medicine and healthcare. By selling health courses and various health products, he used his unique marketing methods and persuasive communication skills to accumulate his first pot of gold,” describes the Sina Finance media outlet.
Wang Jing himself described himself as a businessman involved in mining investments in Southeast Asia, claiming ownership of gold mines, potash salt mines, and gemstone mines. Among them was a gold mine in Cambodia valued at $5 billion, according to Chinese news reports. This is where it all began. He was even granted the title of one of the 200 richest men in China, and it was said that he could turn stones into gold.
“I come from an extremely ordinary background. I was born in Beijing in 1972 and grew up in Beijing. I am not the second generation of officials or the second generation of wealthy individuals. Currently, I live with my mother, my younger brother, and my daughter,” the purported businessman himself claimed.
When Wang Jing acquired Xinwei Group, he claimed to have made his fortune by opening a mine in Cambodia. It was in this country where he made his first move: he signed a contract worth 3 billion yuan, over 400 million dollars, with a Cambodian company. To quickly recoup the transaction amount, “he used his shares and assets as collateral, and then the Cambodian company used this money to pay Xinwei,” the reports stated.
In essence, the method used by Jing to start making money essentially involved signing sales contracts; Xinwei acted as a guarantor and requested the bank to grant loans to the Cambodian company; and this Cambodian company used the loans to purchase equipment from Xinwei. Therefore, the income Xinwei obtained was essentially borrowed money from the banks.
Another Chinese news portal reveals that this model of accessing quick money applied by Xinwei in Cambodia “has been applied to other projects of the group abroad in Russia, Ukraine, Nicaragua, Mozambique, Panama, Ireland, and Uganda.” In other words, the companies incurred debt, generating profits for Xinwei, without guarantees that it would fulfill the signed mega-projects.
The “tall tale” of the Interoceanic Canal in Nicaragua
At the helm of Hong Kong Nicaragua Development (HKND), Wang Jing received from the regime of Daniel Ortega a concession in 2013—valid for 50 years and extendable for another 50—for the construction of the failed Grand Interoceanic Canal. A project for which not a single trench was dug.
The project promised significant investments and jobs but turned out to be, according to Chinese media, “a sham,” a tall tale, or as is known in Nicaragua, “Chinese tale.” “The President of Nicaragua was the most excited and quickly promised to give Wang Jing 8% of the revenue rights and 100 years of operating rights once completed,” says the Sina Finance media outlet.
The construction of the Grand Interoceanic Canal of Nicaragua was officially inaugurated in December 2014. In the country, it was barely visible due to the physical works that materialized in the Rivas area, southwest of the country, before coming to a complete halt, violating the 72-month deadline established by Law 840, which granted the canal concession.
The deadline for the execution of the Interoceanic Canal project in Nicaragua expired on June 14, 2019, and the project remains in a state of limbo, with the country’s authorities providing no explanation for what has happened with it.
Other great promises that went up in smoke
Around the same time that Wang Jing was selling in Nicaragua the story of the Canal, in Ukraine, Wang Jing announced that he would invest $10 billion to build a deep-water port in the Crimea Peninsula, attracting the attention of reputable financial media and the British “Financial Times.” They included Wang Jing in the list of the “25 Chinese People Worth Watching.”
“Of course, after this news was known, no one followed up on this project,” Sina mentions.
Wang Jing also planned to overhaul the Moscow Metro, modernize the Trans-Siberian Railway, and develop large oil fields in Mozambique. He also planned to create an “Aerial and Space Information Network,” similar to Elon Musk’s Starlink company. The goal was to establish an independent satellite network system by launching 32 satellites by 2019. However, this did not happen.
These ideas only appeared in the media, stock forums, and analyst reports, and essentially were not implemented. In other words, they were nothing more than empty promises without any real progress.
With his supposed investors, Wang Jing created “riches” out of thin air. Journalistic investigations show that these individuals were: elderly people who later disappeared from the radar, villagers who had no knowledge or wealth, among other ghosts.
The fall from grace
In April of this year, Haitong Securities, the sponsoring broker of Xinwei Group, issued a risk warning announcement. The announcement shows that the administrator of Xinwei Group received a civil judgment from the Beijing Intermediate People’s Court No. 1 on April 11 of this year, and the court ruled on April 9 declaring the bankruptcy of the company.
According to information from the National Network of Bankruptcy and Enterprise Reorganization Cases, cited by Chinese media, the Beijing Intermediate People’s Court No. 1 ruled on April 9 to declare Beijing Xinwei Technology Group Co., Ltd. bankrupt. This was at the request of the company itself.
In December 2023, the Beijing Securities Regulatory Office demonstrated that Xinwei Group had committed financial fraud for many years, including inflated revenues. And in June 2021, Xinwei Group was delisted from the Shanghai Stock Exchange, and Wang Jing was banned from participating in the Chinese stock market for the next 10 years.
Since then, Wang Jing’s whereabouts are unknown. Chinese media simply report that he disappeared from the scene, and according to unconfirmed reports, he is living in the United States.
Dictatorship continues with the “Chinese tale”
However, from time to time, the Ortega regime—especially since it restored relations with China—revives the Chinese tale of the canal, without explaining how or when it will be carried out. Nor by whom.
Additionally, the office of the Nicaraguan Grand Interoceanic Canal Authority continues to receive, year after year, a portion of the General Budget of the Republic for administrative expenses and personnel payment. For this 2024, it was allocated 8.6 million córdobas—more than 235 thousand dollars at the official exchange rate. And since 2013, it has received over 70 million córdobas—more than 1.9 million dollars.
The last time the propaganda media of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo published something about the supposed Chinese billionaire was in November 2021. On that occasion, according to official propaganda, Wang Jing sent a letter to the regime, describing Ortega’s claimed results in the presidential elections as a “decisive victory for the FSLN”, which “once again demonstrated that the Nicaraguan people unwaveringly chose the revolutionary path in Nicaragua initiated by Augusto Sandino, Carlos Fonseca, and Daniel Ortega.”