Still an interesting story; 2 /1/2 months after it was reported by Beijing Today.

In fact, with the embellishment that Lin “was handed a place on the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference or CPPCC, China's top political advisory body.”, the Telegraph’s article is even more interesting than Beijing Today’s report!

And, yes, the Chinese are ‘earning’ a reputation for having a propensity for deception, trickery and fraud, but they have a long, long way to go to catch up with the likes of Allen Stanford, Bernard Madoff, Kenneth Lay, Bernie Ebbers and others.

Beijing Today

US bank purchase a lie

March 30, 2012

Wenzhou entrepreneur Lin Chunping has gone from rising star to pariah in two months after claims that he had purchased a bank in the US were discredited.

A private lending crisis that began last year in Wenzhou – long renowned as the cradle of Chinese entrepreneurship – led to the flight of dozens of entrepreneurs and dealt a blow to the city’s credibility.

Local authorities praised Lin early this year, calling him the first Chinese person to purchase an American bank and elevating him as role model for local business. Once thought of as the cure, Lin now looks more like a symptom of the disease.

The scandal began with an employment ad printed in the Wenzhou Economic Daily on December 22, which said that Lin’s company had purchased a bank in the US and was offering high salaries for several management positions. The group also promised that it would provide Chinese employees with green cards.

The ad immediately attracted public attention, and the newspaper printed a laudatory report about Lin’s takeover on January 5.

Lin was again honored on February 1 at the World Wenzhou Entrepreneur Conference, where he was praised in front of more than 1,300 businesspeople as proof of what a local business leader said was the famed shrewdness and acumen of the city’s entrepreneurs.

During the Chinese New Year holiday, Lin was lavished with attention from media personalities, politicians and businesspeople.

Things took a sudden turn on March 7 when the Changsha-based Xiaoxiang Morning Post posted an article skeptical of Lin’s achievements.

According to previous reports, Lin bought the bankrupt Atlantic Bank in Delaware in June 2011 for just $60 million and renamed it USA New HSBC Federation Consortium in November last year. But the newspaper cited confirmation from the Delaware state government indicating that Atlantic Bank never existed and that the registered USA New HSBC Federation Consortium is not allowed to operate as a bank.

Lin initially dismissed the report as a rumor and insisted that the bank was genuinely registered in the US. The following day, however, he admitted that he had exaggerated the story, holding a press conference the next week to apologize.

The local government has appeared reluctant to backtrack on its praise and look foolish – no local media outlets reported on Lin’s press conference.