China is using bounty hunters to claw back money inside Australia | Four Corners

[Music] and I look at money-laundering I look at what goes on today you know this part of the world is a relationship-driven culture right if you can't create a relationship with your target he's not going to talk to you for years bill mica has worked in the shadows as an undercover operative for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police his stock-in-trade was danger and deception if you're good at it it's a calling you know I think with all of it you know you get a little bit addicted to it so being an undercover you know someone operation with the FBI he infiltrated drug networks linked to the bloodthirsty Colombian cocaine cartels well it had its moments for sure especially when you know that there's a automatic hundred thousand u.s. dollar hit on your life they discovered who you are [Music] now bill mica is cashing in on his 22 years in law enforcement at his vast networks of contacts in financial crime I got a call from a banker in Hong Kong who said you know how would you like to come to Hong Kong and set up an international banking platform for us our primary clients are Chinese state-owned enterprises and so they want to make sure that what they do keeps them compliant and so that ultimately is how I came to Hong Kong when I left them out he's a lot of construction still going on here yeah it never stops never stops here on the border between Hong Kong and China you can see how the communist state has lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty and made many others very rich bad over there 25 years ago was a fishing village that's all it was China when it when it led to its creating these special economic zones Sen gen was one of those zones today it is the city of 12 million people but this isn't just a border for people and trade it's a pipeline for billions flowing out of China legitimately and illegally the vast majority of people over the age of 45 50 they grew up during the Cultural Revolution they understand the powers of the state and that what I have today could be gone tomorrow and so there's always that sense that if I can at least get my wealth out of China or at least internationalized outside of China I protected my family for future use of that money [Music] from his Hong kong-based bill mica runs a meter a firm that works with corporations and governments to recover allegedly stolen money and assets he is in his own words an economic nurse and ring as long as the claim is valid as long as we're doing everything lawful and properly yeah I'm a hired gun to to help either large corporates or governments to get back what is rightfully theirs and is the Chinese government one of those people whose hide your gun so to speak I'm the the I gotta be careful what I say here but I have a commercial relationship with entities that are themselves associated in some form or another with with policing authorities in in China and a big part of their mandate is focused on economic crime financial crime money laundry [Music] Hong Kong lawyer Conrad Wan is also a hired gun he works with Bill mica and the Chinese authorities to recover assets and money allegedly stolen from the state Conrad Wong says in the last decade alone China has been stripped of 1.6 trillion dollars by criminals corrupt officials and fraudsters the main names as police is willing to work with any agency in overseas to locator people and also locate the assets Conrad ones investigations take him all around the world tracking the flow of illicit funds coming out of China I'm giving the legal advice for them one authorizes about how to chase better money in different countries and how to enforce the judgment to offices such as judgment in offices Hong Kong is the funnel of billions of hot money coming in from the mainland it's not a new phenomenon but decades some of the world's biggest money launderers have used this place as a base to wash the globe's dirty cash [Music] once money is in hongkong then you can do what you want with it although Hong Kong is part of China once money from the mainland is in Hong Kong it's effectively overseas because there are no exchange controls in Hong Kong this is a visualization complex like bill mica former cop Julie and Russell is now a private operator in Hong Kong doing business intelligence work for corporations and governments the perpetrators of the crime what we do in the private sector we've done for many years and have developed networks of people and sources of information and experience in solving these international crimes that that's something most police forces do not do very well [Music] everyone agrees Australia is an attractive destination for money flowing out of China most are trans people will believe an Australia is a good pace and what safe pace to hit on their money one of the critical reason is there's a low successful case for the Australian government to send back and the criminal from Australia to China by using the mutual assistance orders so for this reason they believe that no one can catch a criminal such as FEMA no in being ishida I think Australia is attractive for receiving Chinese ill-gotten gains for a couple very simple reasons money is a coward money doesn't go when there's conflict money doesn't go where there's ambiguity what does Australia represent well Australia represents rule of law it represents a stable banking system it's no secret that China wants its money back in 2014 at launched operation fox hunt a targeted mission to track and repatriate Chinese nationals accused of illegally funneling billions out of the country including alleged fugitives in Australia there's been a great deal of success with it so out of the top 100 targets I think about 60 have been recovered now and that's what the Chinese are claiming former AFP officer John coin says Fox hunts critics are concerned it has been used as a political weapon to purge opponents of Chinese President Xi Jinping fugitives have also been pressured to return home because of threats against family members in China it seems there's more than enough evidence that at least in jurisdictions like Australia the US and America coercive tactics were used to force people to return back to China if you are suspicious even if you have been previous officials reported we're here all to help catch bad guys [Music] Neal jeans runs a firm that advises big corporates around the world on how to comply with a tea money laundering laws I think it's been well understood for a number of years that Australia has been a target location for hot money particularly coming out of China and we've seen that activity increase exponentially over the last number of years and that creates a problem for Australia which is the hot money is transitory it will be here today and potentially gone tomorrow and that then creates dislocations in the legitimate economy [Music] this has become a familiar theme to people in China the Chinese president has now launched Phase two of his repatriation and recovery program an operation codenamed Skynet China's operation Skynet's has brought home 3051 fugitives and recovered of close to nine killing run so Skynet was a much broader and much more extensive activity than its predecessor Fox hub and there was a dual focus really with Skynet which was get the money back get the people back last month chinese state media aired a documentary about Skynet's progress and how authorities are tracking fugitives around the world the message no matter where you flee China's so-called pursuit teams will find you we do like what we've seen with Skynet is a far more systemic and structured and targeted approach but with a far far wider net now China is employing other means to pursue its missing billions economic bounty hunters and it's engaging them around the world do you think Chinese authorities are operating in Australia covertly to try to get that money back certainly from from my experience yes I think you know there are there are issues going on they are covert they are all about applying pressure to people particularly people that have families back in the country bill mica is one of these private operatives he's been engaged by a company in Hong Kong working with China's powerful Ministry of Public Security to track and recover alleged hot money including in Australia we know how to operate more clearly I think then a country like China or personnel from China in our own jurisdictions you know we have familiar years such as Australia such as Australia there's a huge opportunity to develop and exploit this business channel especially with when it comes to Chinese money that dubious origin that has parked itself in Australia [Music] this is where some of that Chinese money has landed in Australia ever since the white shoe brigade of developers descended on its long glistening beaches five decades ago the Gold Coast has been a magnet for big money here McMansions lying man-made canals while gleaming mega towers cast their shadows over entire suburbs there's a range of characters on the coast and they range from the corporate rascals through down to the street rascal this strip of sun sand and steel is private investigator Jason McFate Rodgers beat you'd be very careful you're dealing with on the coast and make sure that you do a thorough checks and background checks are you dealing with because in go pear-shaped very easily mikvah tridge Alford to his colleagues is kept busy with investigations into business fraud and custody disputes run-of-the-mill staff for the former New Zealand plain clothes detective you got the ethnic groups you've got the bikie gangs you've got the fraudsters that are running scans on the coast and they could be everyday people and it's hard to decipher which is which is legit and which is not legit hence why I get a lot of work last year McPhee trees got a call from a contact working with China's Public Security Bureau with the offer of an unusual mission it would be later codenamed project dragon and what's the mission the mission is basic asset recovery of friends that have been filtered in from China to Australia and making Cory's edit and Revell what's actually yeah I could mikvah Treacher's contact work for Caruso & Associates a legal firm with offices in China Hong Kong and the US in a letter to Mack vetrix Caruso & Associates said it had been appointed by the government of the People's Republic of China to undertake investigations and asset recovery operations targeting Chinese individuals or entities complicit in the alleged misappropriation of funds from China and the diversion of those funds to other countries [Music] Caruso and associates told the ex-cop that millions had been taken out of China ending up in assets owned by an Australian company called cap Chevron what's he want you to do basically make some enquiries into cap shiverin do some searches trying to create the people involved and go from there to help him McVeigh tridge brought in a trusted and well credentialed colleague [Music] Ferg approached me because of my background to see if I might be able to assist him you know conduct those inquiries the information the two former cops got about the alleged dirty money was scant was just the money had been misappropriated in China invested into Australia but the detail of how and the where of how the money was obtained in China what wasn't available to us at the early stage if we go back up the chain aren't you effectively working for the Chinese government are you comfortable with that no we're not working directly for the Chinese government in this case the Chinese government has entered a public-private partnership with a Chinese company to which they're close who has the mandate to recover money that's been unlawfully shifted out of China and they are simply engaging with him during Hong Kong to provide some expertise some investigative resources to help them do that and again as I said the agenda simply is to help you know stop the cash flow washing out of the economy why do you think the Chinese want to use X law enforcement officials from say Australia it makes it more streamlined we're dealing with Chinese in Australia we reside in Australia it makes it bit more unprofessional when you're dealing with yeah let's train it at all court matters their type of thing and we have a certain way of dealing with people and you're comfortable working with Chinese authorities so far it's been their Pramod all this is fairly unprecedented where you've got one state employing people in other jurisdictions particularly with the skills and the skills and background that these people have certainly haven't come across it before the company that McFate reach in Whittaker were asked to investigate cap chevron was registered to an office at this address 50 cattle Avenue in the heart of Surfers Paradise there are three directors of kept Shiva and at that stage one was living Australia and the other two announced to me were living in China based in China kept Chevron's owners and two of its directors were Chinese citizens bow-bow Wang and Winston Wang the third director was sherry Jiao an Australian resident who works as a real estate agent on the Gold Coast [Music] okay right now we're actually on Shiva Nollan it's an island right located right behind paradise there's canals rivers around it it's a lovely European when McFerrin his partner Whittaker set out to investigate cap chevron they discovered that hwang and hwang had spent eleven and a half million dollars on a piece of real estate on the Gold Coast Chevron Island the property came with council approval for a proposed 18 story residential and commercial tower we're approaching issue the site which is just down here and if you want to see where 11.5 million dollars went right in front of us there were other curious questions about the deal Wang and Wang paid eleven and a half million for the site in the heart of the Gold Coast they then leased it back for just one hundred dollars a year to the real estate agency that brokered the deal and who had offices on the site the term of the least was five years with a five year option to renew so effectively ten years of lease there's a thousand dollars so the lessees in your opinion got a very good deal it's a great deal Chinese corporate documents show the money flowed from China through a company called Hangzhou Liao meaning Hangzhou come to Australia this Chinese provincial government permit allowed it to move a total of fourteen million dollars into an Australian company called cap developments it was owned by Bobo Wang and Winston Wang how hard is it to get approval to take that money out of China to invest in Gold Coast real estate it is significantly difficult if not impossible I would suggest you would have to get approval at very senior levels to move that level of money Wang and Wings main fund in China spooked the benefits of the Gold Coast development on its website and invited investors to come on board promising hefty returns legal experts questioned whether this is permitted because private funds in China are not allowed to advertise publicly for investors in relation to the high-rise development - they proposed the in Queensland if they put advertisement over the Internet to say you invest the money Internet project theoretically in China that he is British law [Music] Daniel shim specializes in commercial litigation acting for Chinese clients who want to make large real estate investments in Australia Wang and wings fund told would-be investors that a one and a half million dollar deposit in their company could secure them an Australian visa which they claimed would be an easy step to Australian permanent residency in relation to the adverts Minh to say as far as EU invests are like no 1.25 mini Australian dollars then we can secure a permanent resident ership and I do not believe that he is like you know possible that he is not sure and that he is illegal you cannot say this [Music] the time had come for Jason McFate Ridge and Austin Whitaker to act to launch their mission to get control of the property it's hard to tell it's legit or not legit you know and this you should be here at the moment the plan is audacious to get the owners of a multi-million dollar Gold Coast property to simply give it up hand it over so is this even legal as former detectives McPhee trajan Whittaker insist they know the law and are operating within it they say they're simply persuading the directors of cap chevron to own up and see sense our plan was to speak to director tom what we're working with what we're doing get into a green card board from there we can you know sign sign the company over we can sell it recuperate the losses and return the money back to China here in Tempe there was a basic plan and that's a legal plan a legal plan there's no drama long someone can since - it is you know breaking the law if someone tells me to go away I have to go away are these ex law enforcement officers putting themselves any risk do you believe by operating in Australia for the Chinese government I think they have to tread carefully one of the challenges they've got is that they need to walk at very very narrow line their first step was to approach kept Chevron's Australian director sherry Jiao so the strategy that we developed was that Ferg would seek to interview sherry and to see whether she was willing to resign as a director and transfer the shares was our ultimate objective was to seek to sell the property and repatriate the funds back to China so what's your objective with your meeting with sherry Joe the objective is to tell sure we can resolve this matter and when you do help because as the stance she's a front person for this company she's put no money into it she's at the front because she lives in Australia Cheri Jo later recounted in an affidavit in Supreme Court hearings Hal Jason McFerrin made his initial approach he had my mobile phone number I didn't particularly want to meet with him he told me he knew where I lived knew where my children went to school and knew where my husband worked I found this intimidating mr. McFerrin suggested that he would come to my home in the evening after I told him I was busy with work during office hours because I didn't want mr. McKevitt rich coming to my house I agreed to attend a meeting with him at a coffee shop at a shopping center that Helensvale I attended the meeting alone [Music] this is we're filled Helensvale shopping center this is where I arranged a meeting with sherry at a local cafe this meeting with sherry gel would be crucial if the plan was to succeed Ferg advised her that his opinion was that she was not a key player and that if she did want to get out then he had the mechanism by which she could resign Antonio this is serious you know can affect things with you going forward if you go to China I can affect you in her affidavit sherry jail says she felt scared during the meeting mr. McPhee Ridge went on to tell me that he had been appointed as an agent for Shenzhen Bank on behalf of the Chinese government to repatriate monies illegally moved out of China mr. McKevitt Ridge suggested that I may be in trouble with the Chinese government and if I had been in China I would have been taken to jail I was feeling frightened at that stage mr. McFerrin suggested that I had to resign as a director of cap chevron to stay out of trouble and so he could protect me lady cowork with me at the meeting and female working to make a bit more relaxers two of us at the meeting we had a coffee had a drink of water we talked for over forty minutes she was never threatened never coerced never at all the feedback I've had from Ferg and the other two people who are there was that sherry was initially apprehensive which is understandable but during the course of that interview indicated that really she didn't have any equity in the property that her role was essentially to be the nominee director and that really she just wanted to get out of the situation mcvade rich claims that sherry gel realizing who she was dealing with at the meeting decided she wanted nothing more to do with cap chevron she does want to be involved anymore she wants out and I then told her a plan how we can do that to resolve it and keep it out of trouble we had a document written up through our legal excellency in relation to the director of capture from resigning warning out she was happy to get the matter resolved she'd want to be in trouble she wanted out she wanted a family safe and don't be involved at all according to McPhee tree and Whittaker and her own affidavit sherry Giles signed the papers resigning her directorship how are you feeling at this point it's all going to plan I suppose we were happy that we had executed the part that we needed to execute in Australia and at that stage we felt that that would hold up sorry Mark Willacy from four corners could I just ask you a couple of questions about cap chevron sherry gel declined to be interviewed by four corners but we caught up with her near her real estate office on Chevron Island what was the meeting like was it intimidating or I had to do feel at the meeting I'm yeah cuz that guy is my little scare me he told ya I think he's the hey so still don't know where do you know where the money came from China Victor high-tech silver survived the property by capturing I don't know because I'm Asian I just so who asked you to be a director of the company because they're there for ease my friends so he doesn't want the local director eyes at all can I do that this allegations the money was illegally taken text messages sent just a few days after the meeting revealed that sherry gel help Jason McPhee rich with crucial information including telephone and address details for her fellow cap chevron directors this is beau Wong Chinese mobile number maybe you need just sent to you in case thanks sherry that's really great with this information the next phase of the takeover plan could begin the documents renewal sent back to China if we're going to be executed over there for the other directors to be located and signed as well Whitaker and Macbeth Ridge now needed to get the other two directors the China based wing and wing to also resign from cap chevron and within weeks the documents had been returned to the Gold Coast with what appeared to be Wayne and Wayne signatures confirming their resignation from the company are you comfortable with how those signatures were obtained in China absolutely so no coercion or compulsion always no well you know I wouldn't think so it's not I don't know for sure but in the day they were signed and it's a good result having removed the three Chinese directors Jason McFerrin submitted documents to asag which made him the sole director and owner of cap chevron and the plan was at stage mic and you'll come in take ownership of the company I've kept Chevron and from there we can you know facilitate the sale of the property mikvah trager's set to sell up the property and send the proceeds to China and to pocket his commission but he was in for a rude shock one evening the former detective found a package sitting on his doorstep picked up an envelope and was court documents suing me and allegiant me committing fraud operation cap chevron and there was a thick document and I was well this is what's going on here this is not right because whatever I've done it's legit aboveboard so they've hit back hard basically accusing Virg and your team essentially of fraud forgery and threatening people and yet coercion intimidation yeah hot range of sort of unsavory behaviors that just isn't fair we operate the case launched by Bobo Wang and Winston Wang in Brisbane supreme court accused Jason McPhatter edge of misleading and deceptive conduct Wang and Wang's lawyers told the Supreme Court that the documents used by the former cop to gain control of the company were the result of either fraud or forgery or both and that Wang and Wayne had never resigned as directors they demanded to be reinstated and their ownership of CAP Chevron restored and they wanted damages awarded against McFerrin Wang and Wang say they never resigned as directors that you were never appointed as a director and that you engaged in fraud and forgery what's your response to that well that's wrong for a start because when we got the doctors back from China we went through a write procedures or Essex to get it changed over good catch everyone change and to know into my company's name so it's all done by the book on advice from our legal counsel but you don't know what happened at the Chinese end though do you whether they well that was done officially and properly with Wang and wing how I'm just going to be got so I presume was weren't done properly that said in my hands you know the mean because you must done professionally and done properly McFate Ridge was advised by his contact in China and his lawyer not to contest the case the Supreme Court ruled that the former detective had never been validly appointed as a director or shareholder of cap chevron and that wang wang and sherry jao had at all times been the lawful directors the court restrained McFerrin from selling the property wang wang and sherry chow they've won the case it looks like you and your team are breaking the law what's your response to that well clearly we're not breaking the law we sought to execute a process that involved the agreement and cooperation of the three parties and they initially cooperated and some later point change their mind about cooperations we comply with what they wanted what they wanted was the kept Chevron be returned back to capture and directors the Chinese directors and that we resign and we gave beside that we just wanted to focus on continuing the investigation not fighting a legal case that you know may go either way this court cases often doing we thought well we'll just step back you know we may have lost that battle but the war is not over ten days ago a Queensland Police Detective visited Jason mikvah trijet home acting on a complaint from bobo wang McFerrin says police told him it was alleged that he'd intimidated cherry chow the police have told four corners they're still investigating the matter we've had a legal voice along the hallway before I do we think we get legal advice to make sure within the boundary of the law and see how and make make sure it's seraph what we're doing sherry djal resigned as a director of cap chevron last year Bobo Wang and Winston wing are back in charge of the company and the 11 and a half million dollar property through a Chinese interpreter four-corners contacted Bobo Wang on the phone in China she did not want to speak to us feigning reunion she hung up the phone a spokeswoman for Bobo Wang told four corners the Gold Coast property was bought with Wang and wings personal money [Music] [Applause] she denied any illicit funds were used she says ninth of the Chinese Public Security Bureau or any other agency has contacted Wang about the deal and that Wang denies ever advertising to potential investors and she says Wang wants police to investigate what she calls McFate reaches fraudulent claims saying they've caused her and Wang huge losses there's nothing wrong with hiring consultants and people do in any country and where it becomes a little murky is when you start stepping beyond those normal roles on instruction from a foreign government [Music] so why is China using private operatives when it has a cooperation agreement with the Australian Federal Police three months ago the AFP smashed an alleged money laundering scheme by Chinese nationals seizing eight and a half million dollars worth of property it appears China is running a two-track strategy what I think we are seeing with the use of covert operations and formal or informal pursuits is a willingness to try it every means possible regardless of the impact of that whether that's frustration whether that's desperation or whether that's the Chinese authorities simply looking at another angle to apply pressure to bring this money back so from the Chinese perspective hiring these guys is quite a smart move absolutely despite losing the court case the Gold Coast ex-cops say they have been told to keep pursuing the camp Chevron money and there are fresh targets in sight bill mica has been brought in to breathe new life into project dragon there is a lot of clout he has a lot of high-ranking troopers in China so Bill's the heavy hitter you need if he is a heavy hitter bill and his company are essentially instructing us as their Australian arm on you know the asset recovery operations in Australia so Bill's coordinating at the Chinese end we're coordinating investigations at the Australian end we're not going to get involved or do something that is going to put us off site with the police and the jurisdictions we operate in we don't want to be off site we want to do it properly we don't need to see a story in the front page of the newspaper where somebody took a shortcut this team of private operatives believes they're onto a winner with project dragon and a lucrative one for them [Music] they say they've identified eighty million dollars worth of property on the Gold Coast that they suspect has been bought with laundered cash by other Chinese nationals and if it does involve dirty money they want to help get it back to China there's what we're referring to as a cluster of properties sovereign armed most of them or all of them waterfront luxuriously appointed all vacant it's very early days for us that set of properties and we'll be doing some work on information I received through their Realtors is that they find a property they like it they sign a sale purchase and they buy the property with a large amount of cash they're bringing a you know a briefcase full of cash [Music] I see us in a growth industry I see there being a need to hire other former law enforcement from various backgrounds of law enforcement in Australia to assist us because definitely the the problem isn't going away and the magnitude of the need is not diminishing if anything it's it's expanding [Music] you

Channel: ABC News In-depth

Views: 563,391

Rating: 4.5470738 out of 5

Keywords: Australia, china, money laudering, bounty hunters, finance, crime, organised crime, Mark Willacy, four corners

Id: hGZ3DFCPrKs

Length: 39min 29sec (2369 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 21 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/AstronomerOfNyx]

What is going on with the music and cinematography in the opening? Is this a workout video? I'm sorry, it's just very distracting. Here's an article link for anyone who is intrigued by the topic but put off by the video:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-18/chinas-attempts-to-reclaim-money-from-inside-australia/10806228

[u/mofosyne]

Undercover operative used by foreign multinationals owned linked to the Chinese government to hunt down individuals breaking Chinese financial regulations.