US charges former business tycoon behind China's former "nightclub of Heaven"

This is passion nightclub or the better translation heaven on earth It was at one point the most important gathering place in China. Mike Tyson even went there back in 2005 today We're gonna talk about a case involving a former billionaire New York City mayor Eric Adams his close aide and a nightclub in China that was in the middle of a political storm that struck China in the early 2000 Welcome to China Insider. I'm David Zhang. Now, this is Chen Hui a Chinese billionaire and former media tycoon He was just recently charged by the DOJ with straw donor schemes Particularly involving the New York City mayor Eric Adams election campaign back in 2021 now Chen admitted also to green card fraud He will face prison terms up to 27 years But it seems that he will have it reduced to just six months Should he abide by the terms in the plea after which she will be expelled from the United States now He likely told some stuff quite important to the DOJ to get this deal just two decades prior Chen was perhaps one of the most powerful men in all of China He was once the owner of passion nightclub. Its Chinese name directly translates to heaven on earth since 1995 the Beijing nightclub has served as a hub for communist officials to gather as well as as Powerful businessmen in China the club was so famous from the mid 1990s to the mid 2000s It was a place where beautiful girls large private rooms and power come together So, how exactly did a man go from owning a nightclub in China to now about the sit-in prison Supposedly for the next two decades, but I guess only six months Well, the story takes us back to the 90s Chinese communist leader John Zemin was still in power and the 90s in the early 2000s were defined as the golden age of Reform and opening up and along with that actually the golden age of corruption Now during the peak of this period huge amounts of money It was flowing into China into the hands of elites Qin Hui took 1.8 million US dollars and a company with a military background as Collateral to buy a club in Beijing He then renamed it heaven on earth or passion as its official English translation. Now, the idea is very simple It's to make it a place that people will feel like it is heaven on earth Heaven on earth arrived on the scene in 1995 to be the it place for CCP officials to come Enjoy the booze the girls and all the backdoor negotiations They got to meet with business leaders and enjoy lavish Western lifestyles That was still sort of foreign to China back in the days Of course, this is all after a long day of doing their communist work Whatever that is, but those CCP officials love coming here mainly because of the girls Qin carefully selected and recruited female college students who should not only be young and beautiful But also have a wide variety of knowledge in music chess calligraphy painting astronomy Geography ancient and modern history, of course This is all to meet the needs of different sorts of clients from old to young Different walks of life and Chen also had another requirement to do well here The club was not limited to the traditional reception services If you know what I mean, but he also advocated for the girls chatting with customers in different areas and topics So it was a premium hostess club And of course any of the additional services they asked for and Chen used the club to advance his own social status Access to other rich businessmen and most of all to secure his political backing Chen had married into one of the most powerful family back in the days former Chinese president Li Xianyan He was once the second most powerful man in China and that's basically how Chen got his money to get started in his business His first wife Lin was not quite happy about the venture into that club business It was more like a prostitution house rather than a real business But she died in 1996 just one year after the club was open His in-laws had told him that he could not get remarried Otherwise, he would lose his status or his powerful connection with his in-laws Now Chen, of course wasn't going to listen but more on that later So in the early 2000s Chen's brother controlled media and entertainment Chen himself was involved with multiple business ventures into media and entertainment as well It included newspaper like Singpao Daily News It earned him the title of quote the richest man in private media in China So just to show you how powerful Chen was at the time in the 90s in 1996 Two deputy police chiefs came to the club to drink after one bottle of royal salute The manager asked the the two people to pay and they felt insulted being the deputy chiefs in Beijing Felt like they were supposed to be served free alcohol No, and so of course we know that police was was very powerful in China back in the days today But you know, they they were trying to get something out of this, right? Uh, they themselves were even from powerful red families And so they phoned up the police bureau and within 15 minutes the club was surrounded by SWAT and police vehicles Everyone at the club except for Chen himself was put to the ground and got a beating Now, of course Chen saw this and he immediately phoned up his own connections Somebody named Lin Jiamin who is the then wife of Li Shanyan And she was of course back in the days the first lady of the PRC from 1983 to 1988 Lady Lin then called without hesitation to a number belonging to former paramount leader Jiang Zemin And so 50 minutes after that military vehicles rode up and so all the police were disarmed and taken away in handcuffs So it was a showdown of who had a stronger political backing who had more power and Chen won that round Before we continue Blueberry Creative is having a spring blossom sale Now for the limited time all products can join my discount code david for a 15% off Also free shipping if you spend 70 or more So this includes all the amazing taiwan tea the skincare lines from derma roller and k-beauty products as well as all other products In the store, so check out the sale as it ends on march 31st link in the description But it also left a huge difference in terms of the power struggle and the power balance between the club Who they represented and the police system particularly those in beijing And later it became one of the reasons as to why chin hui was driven out of china Now back to the present a little bit chin was allegedly involved in abusing his ex-wife from the second marriage former model and miss china emma lin duo Now chin had allegedly held an axe in front of her now former second wife, even though they were divorced They were still both living in long island on september 22nd last year The old westbury village police department received a 9-11 call the police reported that chin hui used an axe to destroy Her ex-wife's bedroom closet door Which was equipped with an electric lock and when chin hui was holding an axe his ex-mother-in-law and underage son were both present The police arrested chin hui that day and charged him now In addition, the prosecutor also pointed out that on july 25th, 2022 chin hui strangled His ex-wife during an argument now emma had married chin hui back in 2003 Remember chin was told to not get remarried. Otherwise, he'd lose all of his political backing But of course he didn't listen. He was very much into that lifestyle So from the early 2000s chin was involved with hong kong actresses and other women in china in 2003 emma liu who rumors suggest that she actually looked similar to the Hong kong actress who chin was very in love with and that's why they got married Now emma is involved with winnie greco Now if you remember that name that is new york city mayor eric adams longtime aide who helped with his election campaign for mayor Emma was tapped by the mayor's office to serve on adams asian affairs advisory council that council was formed in 2022 under the leadership of Of course winnie greco greco's two homes in the bronx were raided last month by the fbi and that probe also targeted a queen's shopping Mall where the city and document had discovered evidence of illegal donations to the mayor's 2021 campaign So it's likely that chin hui's arrest in october of 2023 Led to winnie greco's home being raided considering the illegal donation aspect that chin has been charged with Now chin hui likely made multiple donations to adams campaign through emma and others And that potentially could be under the direction of winnie greco And so that relationship still needs to be researched and understood still We have no idea why chin hui decided though that he wanted to dip into american politics giving contribution Given that he had disappeared in china after 2009 or 2010. So is he trying to start another heaven on earth? But in new york city Well, you see chin began his downfall after 2005 when the most famous escort of the capital city was found dead in her own Home She was every man's dream at the club to be able to spend time with her Mike tyson even dropped huge amounts of money to be with her when he visited china back in 2005 Now allegedly she took home one night four million yuan and that was in early 2000 So that was a huge amount of money. That's equivalent to about 550 k us dollars in that one night Now it's widely believed that the girl died because she knew too much about too many different state secrets involving too many people Having served so many in her career and her murder was gruesome She was likely tortured about what she knew before her death as both her breasts were cut off And the home was ransacked as well. There were holes in her wall thinking probably Whoever murdered her thought that she had stuff hidden away behind the walls And after her death chin's time at the club got harder and harder His political backing was waning and it culminated in an investigation by the ccp discipline commission Which was shortly happened after the death of the woman Chin had gotten involved in an investigation into the former president of china construction bank and li paying the former owner of capital airport Now it may look like he was in trouble at the time But in fact chin hui was able to save himself through something very interesting an opportunity You see chin hui had set up in each of his club rooms a secret recording camera to essentially record blackmail materials Against everybody that were there So during the investigation chin simply handed over the tapes which also contained recordings of officials in every aspects of the party Including those in the discipline commission So with that he exchanged it for his own personal safety and that sort of amends perfectly Chin's involvement in the crime and he was let go So after that chin disappeared from china his club heaven on earth was closed down and never reopened so Guess where that 1.8 million dollar that he initially bought the club with comes from Well, actually it comes from so he didn't have the money back then, right? But it was quote unquote loaned by two people The first was zhang and zhao the former president of china construction bank and li paying the former owner of capital airport Yeah, the very two people that he was involved with the investigation Were the same people that gave him money in the first place Now again, like I said, it's unclear when he actually left china to come to the united states and why he came here But the question is was he told to leave china with a mission? For example in exchange for his safety from rotting in a chinese prison He got to go to the united states to disturb the peace of the american society Question is I seriously dealt that making strat donations with some just random blunder mistakes that he made without knowing that that was illegal Uh, and where was he all this time before kind of becoming public once again having a decade where he basically remained in the back in the shadows Maybe we'll know more in the future But that's it today for the story on chen hui the former billionaire who is now charged with Making stock donations and this story doesn't end here So we'll have a follow-up once things get revealed All right, if you enjoy the content leave a like comment below your thoughts and subscribe to china insider today until next time. Bye. Bye