Paul Xiaoming Lee, (Li Xiaoming) the richest man in China’s Yunnan province, and a U.S. citizen, and his younger brother Li Xiaohua, reportedly a U.S. green card holder, are currently under residential surveillance by police in China.
The path to wealth of the super-rich brothers is attracting a great deal of attention. Moreover, over the past few years, the Li brothers have cashed out more than 10 billion yuan (about $1.4 billion) from their company, a sign they may have planned to flee the country.
Lee is the chairman of Yunnan Energy New Materials Co., Ltd, known in the United States as Semcorp Advanced Materials Group. Xiaohua is the company’s vice-chairman. In a statement (pdf) on Nov. 23, the company announced that it received news of the house arrest on Nov. 20 and learned that an investigation is underway. The share price of Yunnan Energy New Materials has plummeted since the announcement….