A Chinese Tycoon Sought Power and Influence. Washington Responded.

So in addition to the USA giving China trillions in 'bribes' in the form of millions of US jobs and allowed theft of US intellectual property et al all in the hope that China would eventually join the "rules based international order" to no avail (while our 1% stole billions from our working-middle class) - China is still a no rights, one party police state dictatorship and we have this perverse comedy of reverse miscalculation. Mr. Ye apparently was confident that via "economic integration" globalization and 'donations' that the USA could be debased and degraded downward to be as corrupt and evil as China. Fortunately here in the USA the dropping of a name like "Biden" does not cause ALL our officials to drop to their knees in submission. Well, not yet.

"From 2009 to 2017, CEFC’s revenue jumped from $48 million to $37 billion." No one can even print that kind of money fast enough. By now it should be obvious to anyone that Ye, and all those young rising superstars and tycoons in China in recent times, must all have Chinese military and Communist Party connection.

I can only wonder if there are any politicians who have any true loyalty to America.

It is blatantly obvious that the Mr Ye was bribing connected officials in US, throwing money around to buy influence and deals. That American law enforcement would go after him for bribery in Africa and not America is a tad ironic.

A great and well researched report. In DC - it is said that "know how" is immaterial - it is "know who" that is material. Who would have thought Beijing would beat us at this game too??

I don't trust anyone from China since the end of Mao Zedong years. Deng Xiaoping's economic reforms opened the gates for corruptions in China. Are there any decent Chinese officials and business leaders that we can trust? 1.4 billion cheaters in China? What a mess. This is only the beginning. China needs another Mao Zedong to clean-up China. I visited China for the first time in Feb. 1972 for official business. I met many Chinese leaders including Zhou Enlai and I trusted them and respected them for telling you the truth about China needed help from the outside world. The living condition in China was so poor and no one could believe how could they survived through so many failed movements promoted by Mao. Now 46 years later the Chinese are cheating us around the world. All Americans should beware the sneaky Chinese from China. This is a great report and only NYT reporters able to do this. I stop to visit China since 2013 and I smelled something wrong is going on there.

Unless things have changed very much since my day, paying bribes to get contracts in Africa is required. It is called "dash" and will be asked for openly without shame. That is how public officials in Africa are compensated. One can handle it openly, as Europeans and Asians do, or arrange to have it done on the QT via a Swiss law firm or by some local "distributor"who then makes it back via a discount on goods they import from here. US firms, if they wish to do business in Africa must pay dash on the QT, to appease politicians here who imagine that we rule the world.

The nsiveti of supposedly sophisticated American politicians and business people in dealing with Beijing and its businessmen cronies has been stunning since the morning Kissinger landed to "normalize" relations. Greed-induced blindness to who we're dealing with has brought us to a perilous place today, with a massively stronger adversary than we were dealing with post-war. Trump is a disgrace to the office of the President, but he deserves credit for focusing the whole world on Beijing's true nature. The communists in Beijing want to bury the West worse than Khrushchev did, and we were giving them the means to do it.

There are no borders or walls when it comes to corruption, power and the elite. I have acquaintances in China from their 1%. They regularly post photos of their visits to Mar-a-Lago, Putin’s Moscow and holiday “seminars” with well known wealth fund managers in NYC and Switzerland. Everything else is just a charade for the common man and the non-existent muckrakers of the “mainstream media”.

One of the silver linings in this story is, this Chinese tycoon did not apply for American permanent residency (green card), with an aim to become an American citizen. Many other equally, or more corrupt millionaires and billionaires from abroad are increasingly flocking to USA, sending their equally talented children to prestigious American universities mainly to be used basically as defacto adult anchor babies. Those foreign criminals are getting ample help from our politicians local businesses, and corporations. As many developing countries (China, Russia, India included) become more corrupt, chaotic and with growing civil unrest, these people are becoming more desperate to leave those countries after destroying them. Despite of some efforts, it's proving to be impossible to stop that EB5 "investment visa" through which such rich guys get easy entry into American society and citizenship. Trump organization and Kushner's real estate agency also touted that lure of EB5 Visa to sell its luxary apartments in various cities in USA to such rich criminals abroad.

Xi is using foreign courts to axe rivals.

Similar to the Anbang case, after China arrested the chairman of Anbang insurance company, who had business ties with the Kushner family, Trump soon became a Tariff Man

A more true NY Times style headline would be Biden family friend, Ye, arrested for bribery Oops. My mistake That kind of headline is reserved for Trump associates

Not a heck of a lot different from Madoff.

This fellow seems to me to be a very obvious front for something. As unlikely as Chauncey Gardiner becoming President.

Good reporting. This sort of businessmen is everywhere but perhaps more in China where personal networks and secrecy make it easy to ride on the myth of powerful connection. One wonders why NY Times has not done the same on Guo Wengui, aka Miles Kwok, who seems to have a similar myth behind him but is now connected to Steve Bannon for some sort of anti-China campaign. Guo’s story is probably more stunning than Ye’s.

China has " eaten our lunch " during the past two decades. Our leaders have been " asleep at the switch ". Trump may be a blustering bully, but at least he's our blustering bully.

"Former Washington officials, many with access to the White House and to American military and intelligence institutions, have proven to be eager to help." As they say in China, the fish rots from the head...

So basically he's like a Chinese Manafort.

There are many themes and subplots in this big story about China's global business networking strategies. One that immediately strikes me is how in earth did someone like Mr. Ye, who comes from a lineage of basically truck drivers and ferry transporters in a poor province, presumably has little education and employed himself in odd jobs was able to refashion himself into such a powerful business actor in such a short time. Many skills are involved in this transformation involving how to move in special circles of financial and political power and some refinement as a jet setter himself. Is mobility so easy in China these days, even with state backing? I'm missing something here. There are in this story a lot of under the table corrupt deals but also global network building practices into circles of power all the way up to the final trophy: USA power circles. Here courting Democrats and Republicans becomes part of the strategy. Philanthropy is an ancient part of the game too. There is nothing new here (always follow the money, as the saying goes). Only the players may be new and the networks more global than ever. And now the Biden family (of all clans) seem to be caught in the dark web too. There may be Ponzi schemes or strategies to lure subjects into the network.Etc. etc. However, I do not understand why the US has the jurisdiction to intervene in this foreign company's [business] bribing crimes in Africa (the arrest of Mr. Ho).

Ye Jianming is just another smooth talking & fast action businessman. There are plenty in this world. If he is lucky and timing is right, he might become a real business tycoon or national leader. If not, he will be ended up in jail. There are many similarities between Mr. Ye & president Trump. With his beautiful campaign messages and fast twitters to act and counteract, president could be said that he is a real lucky businessman in this world.

"China’s lack of openness can make it difficult to know who, exactly, is sitting on the Chinese side of the table." China's lack of openness pales compared to our own: Americans don't know, exactly, who is running our government and to what end. The Chinese do.

“We Come as Friends” is a 2014 Austrian-French documentary film that captures the messed up relation that China AND US has with Africa.

"But the fall of Ye Jianming shows that China’s lack of openness can make it difficult to know who, exactly, is sitting on the Chinese side of the table." It is difficult to accept the above-noted statement, particularly the suggestion: 'can make it difficult'. The author does not know this precisely because, in China, there is no independent way to confirm or deny such a statement. Giving print to an unsupported claim conveys legitimacy to it and to the pretence of fair process in China that is subtlety conveyed through such cosy opinion writing. The Times should not be in the business of lending legitimacy to authoritarianism, even inadvertently.

Manhattan's real estate would simply collapse if all the money laundering from China, Russia, India and other countries were stopped. None of that money was obtained legitimately.

In this country, people pretend to be a Rockefeller. In China, if you are part of the PLA apparatus, or better yet, a descendent of the Long March gang - and didn't perish in the Cultural Revolution - you are a princeling. Same thing!

D. Trump must be kicking himself for missing out on Ye Jianming's "gift" money. Or maybe he didn't...

You can easily replace that Chinese tycoon with many similar ones from other countries, including India's Ambani ( just few days ago, Hillary Clinton attended the lavish wedding of Mukesh Ambani's daughter, who purchased a degree from Yale) and other billionaires, operating in similar shaky ground and bordering rampant corruption and crime abroad.

One word - sketchy.

Obviously, we no longer are dealing with the Chinese Communist Party of Chairman Mao's day.

Mr. Ye's case demonstrates the fallacy of suggesting every Chinese businessman is taking orders from Beijing. It's a nice Yellow Peril narrative but it does not reflect reality. A monolithic China makes a better bugbear but it is far from the reality. Sometimes a scrambling corrupt businessman is just a scrambling corrupt businessman. Indeed, Mr. Ye was like every other morals deficient businessman scrambling to make or hang on to his bucks. He knew the shortcut was connections and/or being perceived to have them and corrupt officials. Be they in New York, China or Sudan. Ye literally paid his money and took his chances. He had a good run and then he lost. And he was arrested by the Chinese. This is a great area of potential cooperation with China. The West should stop welcoming and shielding Chinese who flee the country with millions and billions obtained through crime. (The fact they made these monies from crime despite what the banks will tell you is pretty easy to establish.) Once ensconced with their fortunes they can start enrolling the kids at Groton and start prepping for Harvard and spread that money from the K Street think tanks to the Clinton Foundation but it doesn't change what they are or the corruptive cancer they carry with them. Corrupt money is killing the planet increasing and normalizing grotesque inequality all while undermining our governance systems.

Katy bar the door! With Mueller zeroing in on unregistered foreign agents (FARA), this does not look good. In Trumpist parlance, this story is about the swamp!

So, everything in the U.S. is for sale if you can connect with influential politicians? America is NEVER going to be “great” again: our government officials have sold the Soul of the US of Kora/China/Russia or anyone who can pay “us” ... I mean BUY US to do the wrong thing. When it comes to quite a few of our officials, the words “United States” has now become a synonym for “Unethical Snakes.”

What an excellent description of the dark web of business and political connections, the underlying structure influencing every relevant aspect in the workings of our societies! And, yes it does not apply only to China. Do you remember the German diesel scandal, or have you already forgotten it? It would not have been possible without that dark web of business and political connections.

I’ve gotten the odd feeling that average Americans have no clue as to how government access is routinely bought and sold here and in other parts of the world. We’re simply naive bit players, who only continue to be useful as long as we keep forking over our tax payments every April. For that, we get mostly crumbs in return while a select few profit mightily. I have generally admired Joe Biden, but when I read something like this, I cringe. No savvy operator targets an American politician unless they think he/she can help them buy influence for a hefty commission. Say it ain’t so, Joe.

I'm always surprised when U.S. reporters dramatize bribery and debt in the PR China. Every U.S. company doing business in China has had to pay bribes - it is the only functioning system in the country. Chinese citizens call laws _zhi falu_, laws that only exist on paper, not the real world. Everyone is expected to pay bribes, and Xi Jinping gets a taste of every payment. Charges are only brought in China when someone is suspected of speaking against Xi, or perceived to be so powerful they might be strong enough to contend with Xi. Debt is the left hand of this corrupt system. If you're a famous business leader or a high politician, you can borrow as much money as you want, and you never have to pay it back. Nearly all the lavish homes of Chinese politicians were financed this way.

There’s nothing wrong with meeting people and feeling them out. I think many of the American ex-officials smelled him when meeting him and determined he couldn’t pass the sniff test. The next step would have been due diligence on him had it got that, and which they probably would have uncovered questionable items and then declined his advances. These type of American people— politicians, ex-officials, businessmen, tycoons—meet people trying to woo them all the time and get offers for money. There’s hundreds and hundreds of more pictures of people shaking hands or meeting them. Guild by association is not a good argument to try to tar these people for seeking out business deals. It is the deals themselves.

When we look at campaign finance issues and see the activities discussed in this article, it's not hard to see the downside of the Citizens United ruling. We need to get money out of politics!

You can easily replace that Chinese tycoon with many similar ones from other countries, mostly developing countries like Russia, India, Latin America, South East Asia, Middle East etc, operating in similar shaky ground and bordering rampant corruption and crime abroad. China is under the radar due to its direct threat to US in terms of geopolitics and global trade dominance.

The West is concerned both when the CCP flagrantly assists Chinese industries and shocked when the party 'disappears' corrupt "fast-rising tycoon"s. Financial fraud in the U.S. is punished by fines that are ultimately absorbed by stockholders or, in the case of endemic fraud, taxpayers. The revolving door of Congress/K Street sustains this slap-on-the-wrist time-out regulation of U.S. corporations that price-in campaign contributions and fraud penalties as line items on shareholder reports. It's refreshing to see a few Chinese financial criminals disappear while Russian oligarchs and multi-passport U.S. CEOs commiserate and scheme at Davos.

The West is concerned when the CCP assists Chinese industries and shocked when the party 'disappears' corrupt "fast-rising tycoon"s. Financial fraud in the U.S. is punished by fines that are ultimately absorbed by stockholders or, in the case of endemic fraud, taxpayers. The revolving door of Congress/K Street sustains this slap-on-the-wrist time-out regulation of U.S. corporations that price-in campaign contributions and fraud penalties as line items on shareholder reports. It's refreshing to see a few Chinese financial criminals disappear while Russian oligarchs and multi-passport U.S. CEOs commiserate and scheme at Davos.

Sounds like the Trump family... no real business just 'deals' and other people's borrowed money.