According to Li, she left with the money, ownership documents for four properties he had purchased, and all her identification documents.
A Chinese investor has claimed he spent nearly Rs 18 crore and nine years tracking down his ex-wife after she allegedly defrauded him, fled to the United States and plotted to kill him. The story has become the subject of intense discussion on Chinese social media. The story of Li Ping, 52, gained widespread attention after he posted a 15-minute video on June 30 sharing his ordeal. According to Chinese news portal guancha.cn, the video has received more than 69,000 likes and 9,000 comments.
How They Met
According to South China Morning Post, Li said he made more than 70 million yuan (around US$10 million) through stock market investments between 1996 and 2014. In 2014, he attended a business forum where he met Zhang Shudan, an account manager at a major state-owned bank. Both were originally from Hanzhong in China’s northwestern Shaanxi province.
According to Li, Zhang told him she had been abandoned by her parents and raised by an elderly, impoverished couple. She said she had overcome those hardships through education and secured a job at the bank. Li later came to believe she had already researched his financial background before approaching him.
After depositing 20 million yuan at the bank where Zhang worked, Li said he began lending her money whenever she claimed the elderly couple needed medical treatment.
Marriage Followed By Disappearance
At the beginning of 2015, Zhang confessed her feelings for Li, telling him she wanted to marry him, care for him and have children with him. She also promised to help his eight-year-old daughter with her studies. In March 2015, Zhang claimed she was pregnant. The following month, Li purchased a 7.5 million yuan apartment in Shenzhen, registering it in Zhang’s name. The couple married shortly afterwards in Hanzhong.
The day after the wedding, Li drove back to Shenzhen with a friend while Zhang travelled separately by air. During the journey, the car’s brakes allegedly failed, causing an accident.
A few days later, Zhang reportedly asked Li to deposit 10 million yuan into her bank account, claiming she needed the funds temporarily to improve her work performance evaluation. Unable to provide the full amount, Li transferred 2.74 million yuan.
Soon afterwards, Zhang disappeared. Police later determined she had travelled to Los Angeles via Hong Kong. According to Li, she left with the money, ownership documents for four properties he had purchased, and all her identification documents.
Nine-Year Search Across Two Countries
Li later learned that investigators believed Zhang and an accomplice had tampered with his car’s brakes before his trip to Shenzhen. “If she only wanted to swindle me out of money, I would not have pursued the matter. But she should not destroy my car in an effort to kill me. Her plan was obviously to inherit all my assets as my wife,” Li said in his viral video.
Determined to find her, Li offered a US$1 million reward for information about Zhang’s whereabouts. He contacted Chinese community organisations, churches and postpartum care centres across the US while also hiring lawyers and private investigators in both China and America.
According to Li, the search cost him 13 million yuan (about US$1.9 million or nearly Rs 18 crore). Police in Los Angeles eventually located Zhang and her child. A DNA test later concluded that the child was not Li’s biological offspring.
Court Cases
Li said his fraud lawsuit initially stalled because Zhang was still legally his wife. However, in 2020, a court in Shenzhen annulled their marriage and ordered that the four properties registered in Zhang’s name be transferred back to Li. Li further claimed that in 2024, a court in California sentenced Zhang to 65 years in prison after convicting her of 23 offences, including fraud, illegal immigration, overstaying a visa, child kidnapping and human trafficking.
According to Li, Zhang also had several accomplices who allegedly helped move her money overseas and assisted her escape to the United States.
