The Shanghai Pudong New Area People's Court
yesterday sentenced a farmer from Yunnan Province to 10 months in
prison for extorting money from Chen Tianqiao, founder of China's
biggest online game provider.
Chen, 32, set up Shanghai Shanda Network
Development Co. Ltd in 1999 and it quickly grew to become the
mainland agent for the Korean game Legend, as well as
being listed on NASDAQ in 2003.
As chairman and CEO of Shanda, Chen profited
handsomely, earning spots on published lists of the richest people
on the mainland.
He Wen, 25, read a newspaper report about criminals
who had successfully blackmailed several rich people by writing
threatening letters to them.
After deciding he could earn money the same way, he
began to search a rich list for potential targets.
He, who was working in Guangdong Province at the
time, told the court he picked Chen because he felt "it might be
safer to blackmail a person in a city far away."
He found Chen's address on the Internet in May and
sent a letter to him that read: "I have some personal materials
about you that may affect your future. I'm in need of money and
hope you can help me. The amount can be decided, but you must pay
before June 10. Three days after you pay, you will receive the
relevant video tape, audio tape and other materials."
When Chen received the letter in early June, he
said he was worried the writer had information that could harm the
image of his company and affect its stock, so he asked one of his
employees to deposit 10,000 yuan (US$1,238) into the bank account
He had specified.
After several days, Chen reportedly became
suspicious and decided to report the letter to the police.
They found that the bank account belonged to He's
sister and managed to track He down, but he had already spent all
of the money on gambling and in a karaoke bar.
Chen was estimated by Forbes Asia magazine
earlier this month to be worth US$1 billion net.
(Shanghai Daily November 30, 2005)