What kind of U.S. bribery case led to the arrest of real estate tycoon Zhang Li in the UK?

Late at night on December 12, in response to the news that Li Li, the founder, co-chairman, CEO and executive director of R&F Group, was arrested in the UK, Guangzhou R&F Real Estate Co., Ltd. released a statement on its official WeChat account A statement said that Zhang Li was accused of bribery for hosting a banquet in China and providing hotel accommodation for the former head of San Francisco's corporate affairs department. R&F is taking legal action against this false accusation.

News shows that on November 30, Zhang Li was arrested by the London police and is facing extradition proceedings; the reason for his arrest was that he was accused by the United States of obtaining business contracts in California through kickbacks. Zhang Li has been released on bail of 15 million pounds and has challenged extradition to the United States.

Zhang Zhang’s data map

The news also stated that of the above-mentioned sky-high bail, R&F Properties will provide 10 million pounds, and Zhang Zhang personally will provide 5 million pounds. But R&F denied the information. On the morning of the 13th, R&F Real Estate issued an announcement on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange stating that in response to media reports, a London court was involved in a U.S. case. Z ranked 15th on the 2013 New Wealth China Rich List with 22.3 billion.

According to R&F Real Estate’s 2021 annual report, Zhang Li holds 27.77% of the shares of the listed company and serves as the company’s chief executive. He is responsible for implementing all business policies, strategies, goals and plans adopted by the board of directors. Land acquisition, project development, cost control and company operation management.

In 2017, after R&F acquired 73 hotel assets from Wanda for a total price of nearly 19 billion yuan, the number of hotels in its hands reached 89, making it the world's largest luxury hotel owner. At the signing site of this "deal of the century", as one of the core figures of R&F Real Estate, Zhang Li attended together with Li Silian, chairman of R&F Real Estate. Since then, Zhang Li has rarely appeared in public. His most recent appearance was on November 29 when he attended a relevant meeting of the Allied Real Estate Chamber of Commerce online. It is reported that from 2012 to 2022, Zhang Li served as the chairman of the third and fourth council of the All-Union Real Estate Chamber of Commerce; he was elected as the honorary president of the chamber of commerce at the meeting on November 29. People familiar with the matter said that Zhang Li was originally going to step down as chairman of the aforementioned council in 2021, but due to industry reasons, the chamber of commerce postponed the change of office.

Huisheng International Investment President Huang Lichong told reporters that the impact of the incident on R&F will not be great, and Zhang Li still has the right to vote.

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Founder Zhang Li was charged with bribery, the latest announcement from R&F Real Estate!

On December 13, R&F Real Estate announced that,

The company is aware of media reports that a London court has filed a lawsuit against Z in the United States regarding more than 200 cases in 2022. The project is available for sale, with salable resources of approximately 220 billion yuan. At the same time, it has a large portfolio of investment properties and hotels, and has a large resource reserve of urban renewal projects in many places across the country, especially in the Greater Bay Area.

On the evening of November 11 this year, R&F Real Estate disclosed its sales in October. Sales data shows that R&F Real Estate's total sales revenue in October was approximately 2.05 billion yuan, and its sales area was approximately 132,800 square meters. In the first 10 months of 2022, R&F Real Estate's total sales revenue was approximately 35.22 billion yuan, and its sales area reached 2,599,200 square meters.

As of the close of trading on December 13,

R&F Properties reported a price of HK$1.48 per share, an increase of 17.46%.