SHANGHAI – The founder of a private equity fund in China, a former Wall Street banker, has gone missing after Chinese authorities started an investigation into alleged financial misconduct at his firm, financial magazine Caixin reported on Thursday.
Wang Chaoyong, the founding chairman and chief executive of Chinaequity Investment Co, Ltd was sought by police on Nov. 30 in Beijing and has not appeared in public since, the magazine said, citing anonymous sources.
Earlier this year, unspecified regulators found the company had misappropriated money from the fund, had pledged property from the fund to finance related parties, and was in breach of contract, Caixin reported.
Phone calls to Chinaequity’s office in Beijing seeking comment were not answered.
The economic investigation unit at the Chaoyang district branch of the public security bureau in Beijing could not immediately be reached for comment.
Wang, who worked at JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley among other financial firms, still features prominently on the company’s website.
The 56-year-old was last seen in his office in the Chinese capital’s central business district on the afternoon of Nov. 29, Caixin reported.
According to the company website, in 2015 the firm was rated by Forbes as one of the top 25 venture capital/private equity firms in China with an equity value of over $3 billion.
(Reporting by Engen Tham in Shanghai; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)