Nina Wang

[winston]

DJ HK Court Finds Nina Wang Will Held By Feng Shui Master Invalid

HONG KONG (Dow Jones)--A Hong Kong court ruled Tuesday that a 2006 will by late billionaire Nina Wang purporting to give her entire estate to feng shui master Tony Chan was forged, upholding the validity of an earlier will that makes Wang's charitable foundation the sole beneficiary of her fortune.

The High Court's ruling deals a major blow to Chan's fight over the estate of one of Asia's richest women, with whom he claimed to have been romantically involved before her death in 2007.

High Court judge Johnson Lam said in his ruling he didn't believe the 2006 will was signed by Wang, adding that he 'doesn't believe that their relationship was such that Nina was prepared to give him her entire estate.'

Wang, who died of cancer, was known for successfully laying claim to the real-estate empire left by her late husband, Teddy Wang, who was kidnapped in 1990 and never heard from again.

After her death, the charity she helped establish was expected to take control of her fortune, according to a will dated 2002.

But Chan later produced a second will, dated 2006, declaring him the sole heir.

'The 2002 will was the product of Nina's charitable aspiration...The 2002 will truly reflected the long-held intention on the part of Nina to leave her estate to charity,' the judge said.

Source; Lorraine Luk and Jonathan Cheng, Dow Jones Newswires

[winston]

A lot of legal cost for the loser ....


Judge denies feng shui master Wang fortune

Judge rejects feng shui master's claim to late Hong Kong tycoon Nina Wang's fortune

MIN LEE
AP News

Feb 02, 2010 00:54 EST

A bartender-turned-fortune teller who had an affair with the pig-tailed Hong Kong tycoon who was Asia's richest woman lost his bid for her multibillion-dollar estate Tuesday when a court deemed his will a forgery.

The legal battle over the late Nina Wang's fortune has fascinated Hong Kong with its often-bizarre stories of Chinese feng shui rituals and illicit love affairs, offering a rare glimpse into the private quarters of the ultra-rich in this money-obsessed city. Feng shui is the Chinese practice of arranging objects or choosing dates to improve one's fortunes.

The lawsuit centered on two competing wills — the 2006 will held by feng shui master Tony Chan Chun-chuen and 2002 will that left Wang's fortune to Chinachem Charitable Foundation Ltd., a charity set up by the late businesswoman and her husband.

High Court Judge Lam Man-hon on Tuesday ruled that Chan's will was forgery and upheld the 2006 will, according to a summary of his judgment issued by Hong Kong judicial officials.

While Lam accepted that Wang and Chan had an intimate relationship, the affair was a secret Wang wanted to bury and when it came to her estate, "she placed a higher regard on her charitable objectives than the defendant," the summary said.

"The court does not believe that their relationship was such that Nina was prepared to give him her entire estate irrespective of her other commitments and responsibilities. Giving him gifts or even large sums of money during Nina's lifetime when he made her happy is one thing. Making him her sole heir in respect of her entire estate is quite different," according to the document.

The court ruled that the purported Wang signature on the 2006 will is a "highly skilled simulation."

One of Chan's lawyers, Jonathan Midgley, said his client was "extremely disappointed" and plans to appeal.

"We have won now. There is justice in this world," Wang's brother, Kung Yan-sum, told reporters Tuesday.

Hong Kong police didn't immediately return a reporter's call asking if it will investigate and prosecute Chan for forgery. Forgery carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison in Hong Kong.

Chan captivated public attention during the trial with his lawyer's claims that he and Wang were so intimate that she left him a pair of her pigtails. Chan himself testified they were having an affair when his wife was pregnant with their eldest son, telling the court that Wang called him her "husband."

Adding to the mystery surrounding Chan was his spotty resume that included bartender, waiter, machinery salesman, market researcher and computer parts exporting. He testified that when he became a feng shui consultant he once advised a client to burn real money.

Meanwhile, Chinachem's lawyers argued that Chan's 2006 will was part of a feng shui ritual to prolong Wang's life.

The ruling Tuesday marked another episode in the colorful saga of Wang, nicknamed in Hong Kong as "Little Sweetie" for her girlish outfits and hairdo.

Wang, who died of cancer in April 2007 at age 69, had to fight her own probate battle. She inherited developer Chinachem Group from her late husband, Teddy Wang, after an eight-year court case against her father-in-law. Teddy Wang was abducted in 1990, and despite the family paying $33 million in ransom, he was never released and his body never found.

In 2007, Forbes magazine ranked Nina Wang as the world's No. 204 richest person with a fortune of US$4.2 billion, but it is not clear how much her fortune is currently worth because Chinachem Group is a private company. Kung told reporters on Tuesday that Wang's estate is worth "at least several tens of billions" of Hong Kong dollars (billions of U.S. dollars).

Source: AP News

[LenaHuat]

Hi Winston
Thanks a million for this post. The orphanages and poor schools in China will benefit immensely from her largesse.

[winston]

In addition to his hefty legal bills, he now has a new set of problem

Little Sweetie's lover arrested for forging Hong Kong billionaire's will

Hong Kong police today arrested a 50-year-old fortune teller accused of forging a will that left him the multibillion-dollar estate of his late lover, the tycoon Nina Wang, who was once Asia's richest woman.

Two wills emerged after Wang died of cancer aged 69 in April 2007. One left her fortune to a charity she set up with her late husband, and another named feng shui adviser Tony Chan Chun-chuen as the beneficiary. A Hong Kong court yesterday sided with the charity, ruling that the will that benefited Chan is a forgery.

Hong Kong police spokeswoman Anne Lam said police arrested Chan Wednesday afternoon in connection to a document forgery case. Lam said Chan was not immediately charged.

Television footage showed a police motorcade leaving the residential complex where Chan lives, with many of the vehicles blacked out with curtains. Lam said officers took computers and documents from Chan's house.

Hong Kong has been gripped by the story, with its juicy detail about Chan's affair with Wang, who was nicknamed Little Sweetie for her girlish outfits and pigtail hairdo. Chan, who started seeing Wang when his wife was pregnant with their eldest son, said they were genuinely in love, sharing a passion for cooking, model helicopters and feng shui.

But high court Judge Lam Man-hon ruled against Chan, describing him as a scheming sycophant who used a forged will to cheat Wang of her fortune. Wang's company, the Chinachem Group, is worth tens of billions of Hong Kong dollars, according to her family.

Chan on Tuesday said he was innocent and that he will appeal against the ruling.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/fe ... ery-arrest

[iam802]

I think he may jump bail...

[winston]

Appeal in Hong Kong over Nina Wang's fortune
By Annemarie Evans
BBC News, Hong Kong

Hong Kong feng shui master Tony Chan has filed an appeal after his claim to the multi-billion dollar estate of the late tycoon Nina Wang was rejected.

The High Court ruled in February that the will Mr Chan had put forward was forged and awarded her fortune to the Chinachem Charitable Foundation.

Nina Wang died in 2007, the owner of high-rise towers and companies around the world.

The fight over her estate has captivated the Hong Kong public.

Tony Chan, Nina Wang's former lover, claimed her estimated $4.2bn (£2.8bn) estate based on a will allegedly written in 2006.

But the High Court deemed it a fake and awarded her estate to the Chinachem Charitable Foundation, run by Ms Wang's family.

Tony Chan was subsequently arrested and is out on bail until June. The 2006 will is to be tested to see if it is a fake.

On Friday Mr Chan filed an appeal. He said earlier the will was genuine and was given to him personally by Ms Wang.

During the hearings in the High Court earlier this year Tony Chan presented the pigtails of the late eccentric billionairess, who was known for her plaited hair and miniskirts and nicknamed Little Sweetie.

He also gave diary dates of their alleged sexual trysts.

The battle of the wills has eerie echoes of how Nina Wang fought with her father-in-law over her husband's fortune.

Her husband, chemical magnate Teddy Wang, was kidnapped twice, the second time in 1990, when he did not return.

Nina Wang was accused of forging her husband's will and the estate initially went to her father-in-law, but that ruling was overturned and she received his fortune in 2005.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8575977.stm

[winston]

Tony Chan Driver Charged With Running Up Tab By JONATHAN CHENG

NEW YORK—Doesn't this limo driver know whom he's messing with?

According to U.S. prosecutors, a New York-area limousine driver cheated Hong Kong's most notorious feng shui master out of $794,986 after driving him into midtown Manhattan two years ago.

Tony Chan, a Hong Kong multimillionaire who quickly became one of the most talked-about men in Asia after mounting an unsuccessful legal battle for the fortune of deceased property heiress Nina Wang, may have the upper hand in this case.

Prosecutors say Mr. Chan was charged the rightful sum for the 13-mile ride from New Jersey's Teterboro Airport in July 2008. But Mr. Chan's ultimate tab multiplied after the driver, identified by federal prosecutors as Peter Rahhaoui, used the feng shui master's American Express card to ring up nearly $800,000 over the next four months.

All the while, it appears, Mr. Chan had other things on his mind than to glance through his AmEx statements, which he seems to have paid. During those four months, Mr. Chan was under siege by Hong Kong photographers encamped outside his gated compound in Hong Kong's tony Mid-Levels district, after staking a claim to the Chinachem fortune of Ms. Wang.

An email to Mr. Chan's lawyer in Hong Kong hasn't been answered.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... lenews_wsj

[winston]

Hong Kong court to rule in tycoon estate case

HONG KONG — A Hong Kong court was expected to rule Monday on an appeal launched by a bartender turned fortune teller who lost his claim to the massive estate of late property tycoon Nina Wang.

The case grabbed headlines for months as Tony Chan battled the eccentric billionaire's charity, now run by her siblings, for a real estate empire estimated to be worth as much as $13 billion, a fortune that once saw the pigtailed Wang dubbed the richest woman in Asia.

Famous for her outlandish dress and thrifty nature, Wang died of cancer in April 2007 at the age of 69, triggering the bitter feud between Chan and the charity over her estate.

Last February, High Court Judge Johnson Lam ruled that a will in Chan's possession was a forgery, siding with the Chinachem Charitable Foundation's claim to the estate based on another will.

At Chan's appeal hearing in January, his lawyer said Judge Lam misconstrued the evidence and was biased because he "disapproved" of the long-time love affair between Wang and the married fortune teller.

Shortly after the ruling, Hong Kong police arrested Chan on suspicion of forging the will, later releasing him on bail of HK$5 million ($640,000).

The case gripped the former British colony and generated blanket media coverage, with Chan often cast as a charlatan who duped the billionaire.

Wang's husband Teddy, who started the Chinachem Group property empire, was abducted in 1990 and declared legally dead in 1999. His body has never been found.

His disappearance kicked off a heated legal battle between Wang and her father-in-law for control of the Chinachem Group. She eventually won the case just two years before her own death in 2007.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/ar ... 45d240.ac1

[winston]

HK feng shui master loses appeal in Nina Wang case

A feng shui master who says he was the lover of late Hong Kong developer Nina Wang has lost an appeal against a ruling that he tried to use a forged will to claim her estate.

A Hong Kong court ruled Monday that fortune teller Tony Chan Chun-chuen pursued a "thoroughly dishonest case" and "abused the process of the court."

A ruling a year ago favored a second will that named a charity as beneficiary to the businesswoman's multibillion-dollar estate. Chan's appeal argued the judge's analysis was wrong and did not support the forgery finding.

Wang died of cancer in 2007 at age 69.

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financia ... CA5400.htm

[winston]

Little Sweetie: Nina Wang cut a colourful figure

Until her death in 2007, aged 69, she cut a colourful figure on the island, amid its normally sober-suited tycoons. Right until the end, she wore pigtails dyed to match her miniskirts and bobby socks and sometimes liked to bring a pet dog or monkey to meetings. Her nickname was "Little Sweetie" after a comic-book character with a wide smile and a similar fashion sense.

Born in Shanghai in 1937 as Kung Yu Sum, Mrs Wang met her future husband when she was still a young girl. Teddy Wang was the son of a small entrepreneur, Wang Din-shin, who had started a paint and chemical business. Amid the turmoil of the Second World War, the Wangs emigrated to Hong Kong, but the couple met again when they were in their early teens and renewed their friendship. In 1955, they married.

Together, they transformed Chinachem into a property developer that built over 300 tower blocks as Hong Kong boomed.

Despite her enormous fortune, left to her after her husband disappeared in 1990, she was often parsimonious, grabbing left-overs to eat from the kitchen or hosting parties at McDonald's.

Mr Wang was also frugal, and was said to have reprimanded her for paying a HKD11 million ransom when he was kidnapped in 1983, even though he had spent eight days chained to a bed and stuffed inside a fridge. When he was kidnapped again in 1990, she paid only HKD34 million, half the requested sum. Mr Wang was never seen again, and Mrs Wang spent years searching for him.

One man she was not thrifty with, however, was Tony Chan, the feng shui consultant who was first hired to help her find her husband and later became her lover. The pair met in 1992 and over the next 15 years she showered Mr Chan, who has a wife and three children himself, with over £200 million.

When she died, Mr Chan announced himself to be the sole heir of her fortune.

Tony Chan, a young chancer with a dazzling smile, met Nina Wang on March 12, 1992.

Until that point, he had left school early to be a bartender, before finding work as a machinery salesman, a waiter, a market research analyst and finally a computer parts trader. He met his wife, Tam Miu-ching, in 1989, on a tour to Beijing.

When the couple first met, he was living at the other end of Hong Kong's social spectrum, in a council flat owned by his parents-in-law in the suburb of Lam Tim.

However, as feng shui became more and more popular among Hong Kong's rich, Mr Chan set up a school in 1990 and advised Gilbert Leung, a politician, on how he should burn HK$5 million of bank notes in order to avoid going to prison for vote-buying. Mr Leung balked at the sum, burning HK$500,000 instead and eventually serving time, but was impressed enough to recommend Mr Chan to Mrs Wang.

From there, according to Mr Chan in court, a head massage turned into a body massage and then quickly into a full-blown affair. Without his wife's knowledge, Mr Chan scheduled the birth of their firstborn son, by Caesarian section, to fall on Mrs Wang's birthday.

He went on to name the boy Wealthee. He and Mrs Wang spent days digging some 80 feng shui holes around the island, filling each with pieces of jade for good luck. In return, Mrs Wang showered him with enough wealth for him to lead a lavish life, including becoming a helicopter pilot.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... igure.html