Chinese billionaire criminal secretly profited off Jack Ma’s deals

Four years ago, Jack Ma was the embodiment of China’s spectacular economic rise. Already the country’s wealthiest and most famous businessman, he was poised to become one of the richest in the world.

The expected initial public offering of Ma’s fintech company, Ant Group, was projected to surpass the record-shattering launch of his e-commerce giant, Alibaba. Soon, it was thought, he would be lionised like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs — a paragon of Western-style business in China.