Banned Zhao Wei slated to face wrath of shareholders
Zhao and her husband, Huang Youlong, have already been slapped with a fiveyear ban on involvement in the securities market.
BEIJING: Director-actress Zhao Wei, who is under a five-year securities market ban, is next to face the wrath of disgruntled shareholders in court.
Last year, she and her husband were both banned from the securities market for five years over a bungled attempted acquisition of a stake in an animation company.
This week, a court in Hangzhou started hearing a case against the animation studio, Zhejiang Sunriver Culture Co., brought by shareholders who claim to have lost millions of yuan as a result of misrepresentation by the company and Zhao’s company, Longwei Culture & Media.
Both were accused of failing to fully disclose important information related to the 3.06 billion yuan ( RM1.8 billion) deal in a timely manner.
They want Zhao, Longwei Culture, and other associates to be named as co- defendants in the case.
Sunriver, which is listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, has also called for Zhao to be named a co- defendant, arguing that she should bear some of the responsibility and the costs. The court is now considering the requests.
On June 19, Sunriver disclosed that it faced 61 claims for compensation amounting to a total of 18.4 million yuan over allegations of securities misrepresentation related to the acquisition, which fell through in April 2017. The company agreed to out- of- court settlements on 42 of the claims.
Zhao and her husband, Huang Youlong, have already been slapped with a five-year ban on involvement in the securities market. The punishment, which also included a 300,000 yuan fine each, was imposed in November by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) following an investigation into their handling of the proposed purchase of a 29 per cent stake of Zhejiang Sunriver, known at the time as Zhejiang Wanjia, and the impact it had on the share prices of both companies.
The regulator said their market misconduct caused huge volatility in Wanjia’s share price, severely disrupted the market, and undermined retail investor confidence.
Zhao had soared to fame in the 1990s for her leading role in the mainland TV drama My Fair Princess and had gone on to direct acclaimed films such as So Young.