Author |Liu Hu
After working hard for many years in Dongguan City, Guangdong Province, and accumulating a certain amount of wealth, Mr. and Mrs. Li, who set up an industry, did one of the most regrettable things in his life in 2016 with the advice and help of a fellow lawyer: lending.
Li did not repay the money after the loan expired, and Li found out that many people who borrowed money were actually "old men" identified by the court, or the bank's credit blacklist. About 100 million yuan of cash was lent, but more than 80 million yuan of principal was confiscated. In 2022, Li and others were accused of being a "malign force crime group" for lending and collection, and the prosecutor said that they were fraudulent loans, illegal debt collection, and picking quarrels and provoking trouble.
Most of his life savings have been wasted, and he is facing felony charges. If I am an evil force, then I am the weakest evil force in China. At the time of the incident, Li happened to be overseas, and when he heard that he had suddenly become the leader of the "evil force gang", he felt incredible.
Li wrote a letter to the Dongguan Intermediate People's Court from overseas to state the relevant facts of the case. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
The lawyer "advised" private entrepreneurs to lend
Li, born in 1967, is a private entrepreneur in Dongguan City. In 2011, he founded Dongguan Xkai Industry, which is mainly engaged in the production and sales of security and electronic equipment.
From 2013 to 2022, the company has generated a total of more than 1 billion yuan, and 2700 million yuan, with a cumulative tax payment of more than 7.49 million yuan, has been awarded the honorary titles of "Development of Endogenous Economic Contribution Award", "Tax Contribution Award" and "Guangdong Province Contract-abiding and Trustworthy Enterprise".
After years of hard work, Li has accumulated a lot of wealth.
The company founded by Mr. Li was recognized as a "high-tech enterprise" and a "contract-abiding and trustworthy enterprise" in Guangdong Province. Provided by the interviewee
According to Li, in 2015, he met lawyer Huang Rongjian, a fellow villager, at a chamber of commerce eventOut of the friendship of fellow villagers and trust in his lawyer's identity, Li gradually handed over the company's legal business to Huang Rongjian.
Li said that Huang Rongjian first instigated him to invest in the foreclosure house, but because the return of the foreclosure house was not high and the risk was high, Huang Rongjian stopped investing after a few orders. In 2016, Huang Rongjian continued to instigate Li to lend usury, saying that he had the advantage of understanding the law, avoiding risks, and developing customers.
Huang Rongjian said that at present, the market is short of funds, and loans are common and good, and the returns are very high. Li recalled that he was not short of money, and he didn't need to make money through lending, but he couldn't withstand Huang Rongjian's repeated persuasion, and he believed that Huang Rongjian, as a lawyer, would help him control the risk, so he took out the funds and was lent by Huang Rongjian.
Li also introduced that he had no experience in the lending industry, and entered the lending industry in a daze, and everything was operated according to Huang Rongjian's suggestionsHuang Rongjian designed a full set of lending models, made contract templates, and actively developed customers.
According to the accusation of the procuratorate of the third district of Dongguan City: in May 2016, Li established Yinbang Company to carry out lending business, "in order to obtain illegal economic benefits, in the name of private lending, in the name of private lending, signed a loan contract in the name of a member of the company as a lender and took measures such as charging interest on cutting heads, etc., to engage in illegal usury lending business with monthly profits ranging from 3% to 7%". None of these accusations are true, Li said.
The Third District Procuratorate of Dongguan City. Photo by Liu Hu
"I covet other people's interest, and others value my principal."
Less than a year after the loan, Li found that the debtors defaulted one after another, and it was particularly difficult to recover the loan. After understanding, Li found that many of the people who borrowed from him were already in debt before borrowing, and they had already become dishonest people in the court or bad credit records in banks;Some people even borrowed usury elsewhere, but they couldn't pay it back, and came to Li to borrow money to plug the holes of other loan sharks, and Li didn't know anything about them.
Seeing that the huge amount of money could not be recovered, Li braked urgently, stopped lending to foreign countries, and began to collect. At this time, Li had lent about 100 million yuan in cash, and more than 80 million yuan of principal was not returned.
Regarding its collection behavior, the procuratorate of the third district of Dongguan City alleged that the collection personnel of Li's company collected through "soft violence" methods such as verbal threats, door-to-door harassment, and posting big-character posters, as well as repeatedly carrying out "picking quarrels and provoking troubles" in the borrower's home and store.
Loan collection is a normal behavior, but the debtor either disappeared, or refused to repay the loan with confidence", Li said, individual people failed to maintain rationality in the process of collecting loans, had some conflicts with the debtor, and took some radical measures, but on the whole still maintained restraint, did not take the most powerful means, did not hit people, hurt people. "Most of the collection work was directed by Huang Rongjian and arranged for others to complete it. ”
Urging back and forth, a large number of debtors are still dead or alive and do not repay the money. In desperation, starting in 2017, Li and others decided to recover the loan in accordance with the law through civil litigation.
According to the case information obtained by the author, Li filed dozens of civil lawsuits demanding that the borrower repay the arrears;The court also rendered a corresponding judgment ordering the relevant borrowers to repay the corresponding arrears.
Despite the court's decision, the money could not be recovered.
Most of his life's savings have been wasted like this. Li said bitterly that he was engaged in lending, originally wanted to earn other people's interest, but what he didn't expect was that others were eyeing his principal.
If you don't get the money back, you will be forced to dare not return to China
According to Li, everything was calm during the trial of the civil lawsuit and the execution process, and no one questioned the legality of his lending, because for the person who performed the judgment and mediated, he did use Li's loan, and it was natural to repay the principal and interestFor those who evade repayment, if they don't borrow for nothing, they don't borrow for nothing, anyway, they are old and have no intention of repaying. Therefore, even in the three-year "anti-gang and anti-evil" campaign from 2018 to 2020, there was not a single report or accusation against him.
However, in February 2022, Dongguan ** suddenly filed a case against Li and others, and 7 people, including Huang Zuli, who had a working relationship or cooperative relationship with him, were criminally detained by the Huangjiang Branch of the Dongguan Municipal Public Security Bureau. ** Li and others were identified as a "malign force criminal group", and the acts involved in the case included illegal lending, collection, and false civil litigation.
At that time, Li happened to be overseas and did not appear in the case.
Huangjiang Branch of Dongguan Public Security Bureau. Photo by Liu Hu
In December 2022, the Dongguan Third District Procuratorate filed an indictment with the Dongguan Third People's Court, accusing Li as the "ringleader of the malign force criminal group", Huang Zuli as an "important member", and Liu Xueping as "other members".
The prosecution alleges that the above-mentioned persons have a clear division of labor and a relatively fixed organization, and have been gathered together for a long time for the purpose of illegal possession, and have jointly and deliberately carried out criminal activities such as "routine loan" fraud, picking quarrels and provoking troubles, and illegal detention on multiple occasions, forming a criminal group of malign forces, seriously disrupting local social life and economic order, and causing a vile social impact.
During the first-instance trial of the case, the defense lawyers of several defendants pointed out that the relevant defendants did not constitute a crime, and the so-called "victims" involved in the case had no ability to repay the loans after borrowing huge amounts of money, and became defaulters because of default.
The so-called 'victims' defaulted on debts, and the relevant defendants carried out debt collection acts based on debt disputes, and there are no criminal characteristics of making trouble out of nothing and maliciously disrupting social order, let alone the characteristics of "malign forces" that form an illegal influence and seek a strong position. The defense lawyer said.
The defense lawyer also pointed out that the borrowing mode of Li and others was not a "routine loan", but simply to earn interest on the loan, and there was no purpose of defrauding others of their property, nor was there any deception or coercion.
Li, who is overseas, said that his behavior is an ordinary usury, not a "routine loan". Although the part in excess of the statutory interest is not protected, it is definitely not a fraud, because he has no purpose of illegal possession, nor does he fabricate facts, conceal the truth, and do not induce or coerce others to borrow money. All the people who came to him for a loan knew that this was a loan shark, and they wanted to deduct the interest in advance, so they voluntarily issued an IOU to him, and after getting the loan, they voluntarily transferred the interest back to Li in advance.
The Opinions on Several Issues Concerning the Handling of Criminal Cases of "Fraudulent Loans" clearly stipulate that "fraudulent loans" refer to the purpose of illegal possession, in the name of private lending, inducing or forcing victims to sign "loans" or disguised "loans", "mortgages", "guarantees" and other related agreements, forming false claims and debts by inflating the amount of loans, maliciously creating defaults, arbitrarily determining breach of contract, destroying evidence of repayment, etc., and using litigation, arbitration, notarization, or the use of violence, Illegal and criminal activities related to threats and other means of illegally taking possession of victims' property. Li believes that according to this provision, their lending behavior does not constitute fraud at all.
Li was labeled as a "malign force" and did not dare to return to China.
Li's letter to the Dongguan Intermediate People's Court said that when his father died, he did not dare to return to China to fulfill his filial piety, and regretted it for life. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
admit the crime of false litigation, and do not admit "malign forces".
On June 9, 2023, the Third People's Court of Dongguan City issued the first-instance judgment (2022) Yue 1973 Xingchu No. 4333, in which Huang Zuli and other seven defendants were found guilty of "fraud" and "collection of illegal debts", and were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 12 to more than 3 years.
The court stated in the judgment that Li set up a company with Huang Zuli and others, and had no lending qualifications, but wantonly publicized the lending business in the name of the company, and actually used the personal lending model, with "cutting interest" and other expenses as the main profit point, which was obviously not in line with the private lending habits, "reflecting the gang's purpose of collecting money through illegal means." ”
The Third People's Court of Dongguan City. Photo by Liu Hu
The court also held that the defendant in this case took advantage of the victim's eagerness to use money, replaced the standard contract with oral agreements and other means, and deliberately did not inform the only designated account for repayment, the default clause and other important contentsThrough the form of fund transfers, create traces of bank flows, obtain evidence consistent with IOUs, loan contracts, etc., and make "full preparations" for them to file false lawsuits and demand money from the victims in the future.
Whether the victim knew it or not, it does not impact the determination of the perpetrator's purpose of illegal possession. The court said that the defendant's conduct in this case not only met the constitutive elements of the crime of false litigation, but also constituted the crime of fraud, and should be convicted and punished as the "crime of fraud" with a heavier punishment.
At the same time, the court also claimed that the defendants in the case engaged in illegal financial business activities and often gathered together to illegally collect ...... by means of violence and threatsIt breeds into underworld forces, triggering all kinds of associated and secondary illegal and criminal activities.
Criminal Verdict of First Instance (Partial). Photo courtesy of the interviewee
Li did not recognize the first-instance judgment at all. He said that if they are "evil forces", they are the weakest "evil forces" in China.
They concealed their true debts, bad credit information, borrowed from me, and did not repay the loans, but they were not criminals;I asked them for money, and I sinned. Li believes that these people have jumped from "dishonest judgment defaulters" in civil cases to "victims" in criminal cases, which is extremely absurd. "The first-instance judgment found that I maliciously created a breach of contract and arbitrarily determined a breach of contract, which is completely unfounded. ”
The author notes that among the 24 fraud cases identified in the first-instance judgment, there is a common description of the so-called victims: the loan was not repaid on time when it expired.
Li said that most of his life savings have been wasted, and he is also facing criminal charges of fraud and underworld forces, "This is unacceptable to me." ”
My idea is very simple, that is, to lend money, collect interest, no inducement or coercion, not fraud, no routine. Li said.
According to the information obtained by the author, while Li collected loans from debtors through litigation and on-site collection, he also forgave nearly 10 million yuan of debts for some borrowers who were in difficulty, whose family members were sick, and who did not have the ability to repay. Among them, the debtor Chen Mouming borrowed 6 million yuan, and after several negotiations, Li exempted him from the loan principal of 5.45 million yuan, and the interest was all waived. Chen Mouming was full of gratitude to Li, and expressed his gratitude through WeChat, saying: "Thank you brother for his great kindness, if there is a day to turn over, I must know how to be grateful." I won't say much more, thank you, dude!Gong Mouying borrowed 1 million yuan (deducted part of the interest in advance and actually delivered 720,000 yuan), and after negotiation, Li exempted Gong Mouying from borrowing more than 270,000 yuan, and all the interest was waived. The debtor Huang Mouhua borrowed 400,000 yuan, but could not repay the loan after the expiration, and asked for grace many times, and Li agreed, but Huang Mouhua did not fulfill his promise. During this period, Huang Mouhua's son was admitted to the university and had no tuition, so he took the initiative to find Li and ask him for help. Li felt pity and gave Huang Mouhua's son tens of thousands of yuan in red envelopes. Since then, Huang Mouhua and his son have lost contact and have never mentioned repayment.
Li said: No "evil force" gang will treat people who do not repay their debts so kindly. This also proves that he did not have the criminal intent of illegal possession.
Lawyer Huang Rongjian has also been arrested and designated as an "organization and leader".
After the first-instance verdict, Huang Zuli and other defendants appealed.
Huang Zuli's "Appeal Brief" pointed out that he did not constitute the crime of fraud or the crime of malign forces;In addition, the first-instance judgment omitted the co-defendant's lawyer, Huang Rongjian, who was the proposer and operator of the loan shark and also participated in the collection, and Huang Rongjian's role was far greater than that of others. But until the first-instance verdict was released, Huang Rongjian was unscathed and at large.
It is reported that in May 2022, when compulsory measures were taken against the persons involved in the case, Huang Rongjian was also taken to the place where the case was handled, and Huang Rongjian was allowed to leave immediately after making the record. When Huang Zuli and others were interrogated by the case-handling personnel, they took the initiative to state the fact that Huang Rongjian had organized the issuance of usury, but the case-handling personnel did not record it, or passed it off. In the Criminal Verdict of the first instance, there is only one mention of Huang Rongjian, and it is the debtor Xu who repaid the loan to Li through Huang Rongjian's bank account, but the judgment does not make any evaluation of Huang Rongjian's behavior.
What kind of ability does Huang Rongjian have to avoid the investigation, prosecution, and trial of the judicial organs?Huang Zuli and others questioned. According to public information, Huang Rongjian is a lawyer at Guangdong Aesop Law Firm, obtained a lawyer's practice certificate in 2009, and has been practicing in Shenzhen since February 2022.
Several of the defendants claimed that lawyer Huang Rongjian was a key figure in the case. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
A person familiar with the matter told the author that after the verdict of the first instance of the case was announced, in August 2023, Huang Rongjian was criminally detained by Dongguan ** and arrested in September of the same year;Huang Rongjian's arrest is highly related to the "routine loan" case described in this article.
Huang Zuli and others pointed out that Huang Rongjian was the main culprit in this case, but he has not been adjudicated by the judiciary so far, "I hope that the court of second instance will ascertain the facts and remand the case for retrial." ”
Li, who is overseas, has not given up the pursuit of "justice". In November 2023, before the second trial, Li sent a letter to the Dongguan Intermediate People's Court to clarify the relevant facts.
In the letter, Li said that although he was misled by Huang Rongjian to engage in lending, his main focus has always been on the operation of physical enterprises. He admits that short-term lending is illegal, and he also admits that he has filed a false lawsuit with the court and is willing to bear the corresponding responsibility, but he is not a "malign force" and has not committed any fraud against the "victim".
Li pointed out in the letter that the reason why this case occurred was precisely because Huang Rongjian, who had an economic dispute with him, contacted dozens of debtors to make false accusations and framed him, "Huang Rongjian, as a key person in the case, was omitted in the investigation, review and prosecution, and first-instance judgment of this case, resulting in a large number of facts that were not clarified or deliberately distorted." ”
Li said when chatting with Huang Rongjian on WeChat, "I can't imagine you being so bad." Photo courtesy of the interviewee
Li, who has not returned to China for several years and does not dare to return to China, said that he is Chinese, he loves his motherland, and there are his relatives and enterprises in China, "As long as the case can be tried fairly and the truth is ascertained, I am willing to return to China at any time to be handled." ”
On December 22, 2023, the Dongguan Intermediate People's Court conducted a second-instance trial of the case, and the verdict has not yet been pronounced. Some family members believe that this is a major move by the Dongguan Intermediate People's Court to implement the spirit of the "Notice on Carrying out Special Work on Promoting the Increase of the Second Instance Rate of Criminal Cases" issued by the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Court, and the second instance may usher in a major turning point. Because, there are indeed too many loopholes in the first-instance judgment to withstand scrutiny.
Participants in the trial said that during the trial, a number of defendants and defense lawyers requested that Huang Rongjian be tried together to clarify the facts of the case. The prosecutor who appeared in court said in court that Huang Rongjian had been arrested and had been characterized as the "organizer and leader" of the "evil force" group.
In the defense materials submitted to the Dongguan Intermediate People's Court, Li requested that the case be remanded to the Dongguan Third People's Court for retrial, and that Huang Rongjian be combined for trial. "Only by joining the cases can the facts of the case be ascertained and the status and responsibilities of the defendants clarified. ”
Li believes that Huang Rongjian's deep involvement in lending has both objective evidence, the confessions of Huang Zuli and others, and the identification of the debtor, and should be investigated, prosecuted and tried by the judicial organs.
Dongguan Intermediate Court. Photo by Liu Hu
According to Li's statement, in the second half of 2021, the company controlled by Huang Rongjian illegally occupied more than 13 million yuan of his funds. At that time, during the epidemic, he was abroad and asked Huang Rongjian to pay, but Huang Rongjian refused, and the two clashed. Huang Rongjian instigated the debtor to accuse him, probably because he wanted to prevent him from returning to China through criminal means and completely possess more than 13 million yuan. But he miscalculated, and the situation did not go in the direction he expected. ”
Li added that Huang Rongjian also defrauded himself of more than 600,000 yuan during the period when he held the foreclosure house. After the two had a conflict, he complained to the Justice Bureau against Huang Rongjian. Huang Rongjian was worried about being punished administratively or even criminally, so he returned the more than 600,000 yuan before Li withdrew his complaint. Li believes that Huang Rongjian has a grudge against this and launched a report against him, and now he is arrested, which is "harming others and ultimately harming himself".