How has Wang Ti conned Beijing elite over three years of about 60 million yuan (S$12.5 million) by selling them houses and cars?

She cons Beijing elite

Tuesday, January 7, 2014 – 06:00

The New Paper

How has she conned the high and the mighty over three years of about 60 million yuan (S$12.5 million) by selling them houses and cars?Her victims included 26 Olympic medallists such as gymnasts Yang Wei, Yang Yun and Feng Zhe, and swimming star Luo Xuejuan.

TV actress Wang Likun and 22 other celebrities were also defrauded, Chinese media reported.

She convinced the elite of Beijing that she was one among them.

But in real life, Wang Ti’s father was a handyman and her mother a bank clerk.

Wang, 32, told her “elite” friends that she had connections in high places, including the most powerful in the Chinese Communist Party.

Wang’s bluff was called when one of the victims reported her to the police.

On Christmas Day, the Chinese state media reported that she was jailed for life.

Written testimonies from her trial, obtained by UK daily The Telegraph, offered an insight into the lavish lives of the Beijing elite filled with intoxicating greed for luxury.

“She drove a Bentley convertible and always had the latest mobile phone and a fancy watch,” said one of her biggest victims, who asked not to be named because his family is still unaware of the huge sums he lost to Wang.

The victim said: “She was not stunning, and her clothes were not spectacular, but you could tell they were very expensive.”

After divorcing her footballer husband, Wang passed herself off as the daughter of Mr Li Changchun, once a member of the Politburo Standing Committee.

She told her friends that she was an illegitimate child, making it almost impossible to check her background, the victim said.

She rapidly climbed the social ladder and started dating Olympic gold medalwinning gymnast Xiao Qin, now 28, also a senior People’s Liberation Army officer.

“I first met him at a wedding,” she said in her written testimony.

“He asked me out and over dinner he said he knew a lot of army generals and whenever he went to different provinces, the army leaders would receive him.”

She added: “That night, we went to a karaoke club. I sat next to him and he secretly tried to hold my hand under the table. We had both drunk a bit and I found him handsome so I let him.

“A week later, we had sex in my house and moved in together.”

The gymnast introduced her to star athletes.

Said Wang in the testimony: “I thought these athletes dressed tastelessly. Some of their clothes were even fakes. They thought I was a tycoon because I dressed well, carried a real Louis Vuitton handbag and lived in an expensive compound.”

But after her former husband cut her off financially, she hit upon an idea to make money – rent out apartments, claim ownership and sell them.

She told the victim that through her connections she had been offered two apartments in downtown Beijing and that she only had to pay for one.

Wang offered one apartment to the victim at a very cheap price.

The victim testified: “After that she kept calling to ask for money for various things, like taxes. I ended up paying all upfront because she told me she was low on cash.

“Then she posted pictures of her baby son on the Internet with tubes coming out of his head, so I assumed she needed the money for medical bills.”

Months passed and there was no contract and the victim made a police report.

The police took a while before they began investigating because they wanted to make sure that she really was not Mr Li’s daughter.

Wang said she will appeal.