A big scandal erupted recently in Shanghai when allegations came to light that a local crime boss offered prostitution services to government officials in exchange for business advantages. On Dec. 30, 2020, a Shanghai supreme court upheld a lower court decision by Shanghai’s second intermediate court against the defendant, 47-year-old Zhao Fuqiang, a former controller of Shanghai Yusheng Investment Management Co. Zhao was indicted on charges of organizing a criminal gang and prostitution ring, rape, fraud, picking quarrels and stirring up trouble, coercion, and bribery. The ruling said that Zhao influenced local government officials, state-owned company executives, judges, and police officers through offering sex services in exchange for business advantages, according to a Jan. 18 report by Chinese finance magazine Caixin. Zhao first struggled to make a living as a tailor after he moved to Shanghai from his rural hometown of Taixing city, Jiangsu Province, in the late 1990s. He …