The sudden fall of a Toronto fund manager, who bills himself as "the Chinese Warren Buffett" but actually turns out be be "the Chinese Bernard Madoff", prompted Canadian financial advisers to warn new Chinese immigrants not to be lured by the promise of super high returns in making an investment.
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| Weizhen Tang speaks during an interview at his office April 8, 2009. [worldjournal.com] |
The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC), Canada's main stock-market regulator, is investigating Weizhen Tang, who ran Weizhen Tang Corp and Oversea Chinese Fund Ltd Partnership, over the allegations that he defrauded tens of millions US dollars of his clients in Canada and the United States.
Tang's clients, who are mainly new immigrants from the Chinese mainland, were reportedly divided into two opposing groups when the 50-year-old man, who has made a promise of "one-percent-weekly returns," first admitted his company had no assets to pay requested redemptions over a month ago.
According to the court filings by the OSC, more than 200 investors have invested over 60 million US dollars into Tang's hedge fund.
One group of clients filed complaints to the OSC, which immediately placed an all-cease-trading order to Tang. However, the other group signed a letter to the OSC and asked it to stop the cease-trading order, in the hope that Tang will be able to stage a comeback to repay their money.
Tang, however, insisted his investment setback was a reasonable reflection of the current tumbled market. And he denied that he guaranteed the one-percent weekly returns in client contracts whatsoever.
"The one-percent weekly returns are the ideal goals I have set, " Tang told Xinhua in Chinese in a recent interview.
"I don't think it's about me being overconfident, but rather, the fact that I'm the only capable investor for doing so in the Chinese community," he said.
Two of his clients were also present in the interview but did not want to be named.
"We thought he is so trustworthy that we gave him the money even without adequate knowledge of the financial market," one client said.
"I take the gamble and pay the loss. No gamble, no hope," said the other.
