Xiao Jianhua, whose disappearance from a Hong Kong hotel in 2017 sent shockwaves through the financial community, pled guilty to charges of bribery and illegal use of funds, according to a statement from Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court. Tomorrow Group, a digital marketing giant that Xiao founded, was given a US$8.1 billion fine. (The Wall Street Journal, South China Morning Post) 

Talking point: The sentencing completes Beijing’s dismantling of Xiao’s business empire, which had an estimated value of around US$5 billion when he was abducted. Xiao, who is among a number of high-profile businessmen targeted under President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign, was nabbed at Hong Kong’s Four Seasons hotel and whisked into mainland China in 2017. The Shanghai court said Xiao used Tomorrow Group to pay US$100 million in bribes over 20 years, and collected more than US$45 billion in public deposits. It said it gave the 50-year-old a reduced sentence because Xiao “turned himself in.”