A Chinese prosecutor is reported to have arrested the director of a listed big data company, accusing him of embezzling $8 million and using the money to buy a bitcoin mining rig. Although Lee Cunnan has denied the allegations, officials say his evidence implicates him.
Director’s non-approved use of funds discovered in November 2021
A prosecutor in Beijing, China has reportedly cleared the arrest of a former director of a listed big data firm who is accused of using fraudulently earned money to buy a bitcoin mining rig. Director Li Kunnan is accused of embezzling about $8 million (55.53 million yuan) from Zhongchang Big Data, according to the company’s filings with the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
According to a Chinese-language report, Kunnan, the former chairman of Zhongchang Big Data, is believed to have misappropriated funds during his tenure as a senior executive of the company. Zhongchang Big Data claimed it became aware of the director’s unrestricted activities in November 2021 when the company’s new management “overseen subsidiaries to standardize corporate governance.”
After the inspection ruled out Kunnan as the culprit who was misappropriating funds, the former director sent a statement to Zhongchang officials denying the allegations.
Company funds used to pay hosting fees
However, despite Cunnan’s denial, Zhongchang officials insisted that he was the culprit and presented evidence to support his claim. For example, executives allege that between January and September 2021, his company paid for “servers” worth $4.1 million, but these are not on its books. The report states that upon inspection, the servers were found to be “WhatsApp Mining Machine (Model: M31S-76T44W), Supercomputing Server (Model S10Pro)”.
In addition to paying for the bitcoin miners, Zhongchang claimed that the former director had also used the company’s funds to pay for escrow fees, which totaled $3.8 million.
Meanwhile, reports say Cunanan has refused to cooperate with investigators and is currently believed to be out of the country.
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