On January 8, CCTV's "Rule of Law Online" disclosed for the first time the details of the criminal group case headed by Ximihua (Zhou Zhuohua) and Chen Ronglian, involving more than 300 billion yuan in gambling capital.
The report was titled "The Case of Zhou Zhuohua's Cross-border Gambling Criminal Group" and pointed out that Xi Mihua and other gangs used commissions and dividends as bait to induce others to act as agents and organize and recruit Chinese citizens to participate in cross-border online gambling. Data seized from 2015 to 2019 show that illegal gambling funds exceeded more than 300 billion yuan, and the gang won more than 8.7 billion yuan.
The judge disclosed the gang’s criminal methods, recruiting agents through shareholding, luring gamblers to place bets on illegal websites, and the gang also laundered money through underground banks to evade investigation.
Previously, Hong Kong media broke the news that the amount involved in Zhou Zhuohua's case exceeded HK$800 billion and the profit exceeded HK$20 billion. The 300 billion announced by CCTV was only the official domestic betting amount. The trial of Zhou Zhuohua's case will begin in September 2022. The principal criminal, Xi Mihua, has been on trial for 18 years and must pay 8.65 billion Hong Kong dollars in compensation. Ximihua's appeal in October 2023 was rejected. In addition to paying fines, Ximihua and other nine people also had to cough up 25.5 billion Hong Kong dollars in illegal gains, twice the amount in the first instance judgment.
Ximihua was still unconvinced by the court’s decision. In December last year, she wrote an open letter to “regret her grievances.”
In addition, a letter Xi Mihua wrote to his colleagues in June last year was exposed, saying that he learned to meditate cross-legged every day in prison, had developed a habit of being smoke-free and alcohol-free, and had entered a second life. After Xi Mihua was imprisoned, he owed thousands of employees unpaid wages. In his letter, he asked his colleagues to go to the relevant departments to deal with it. It seemed that he was unable to repay.
According to Hong Kong media, Xi Mihua’s tens of billions of assets have come to nothing. His wife Chen Huiling and her lover Mandy are selling their properties to pay off their debts. Mandy’s multi-billion dollar mansion was repossessed by the gambling king’s son Lawrence Ho at the end of last year and was listed below the market price. Debt sale.
Mrs. Chen Huiling looks calm on the surface, but she also sells properties privately. However, it has not affected the lives of her and her children for the time being, and she is as wealthy as ever.
The Ximihua case also involved the cases of Chen Ronglian and Ji Xiaobo.
Chen Ronglian is the husband of actress An Yixuan. He was sentenced to 14 years in early 2023. An Yixuan has refused to respond to the matter.
In November last year, the court disclosed the case of Wu Pace's boyfriend Ji Xiaobo. Ji Xiaobo was characterized as the "leader of the evil forces". His aunt Cui Limei was sentenced to 8 years and 6 months and fined 200,000 yuan.
CCTV reported that it really attacked criminal gangs such as Xi Mihua and Chen Ronglian, but the penalty for Guan Ji Xiaobo has not yet been announced.
