Media tycoon Gary Wang sentenced to 40 months
By Matthew Strong
Taiwan News, Staff Writer
2015-07-31 02:47 PM
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Media tycoon Gary Wang was sentenced to three years and four months in prison for insider trading after a retrial by the Taiwan High Court Friday.
The verdict was related to the web of financial scandals surrounding the collapse of the China Rebar Group in 2007. Wang’s father, group founder Wang You-theng, fled the country to China and ended up in the United States via Singapore as the scandal rocked his business empire. More than 100 defendants including several of his sons and daughters went on trial, with a new round of verdicts expected on August 14. Appeals are still possible.
Gary Wang, who founded the Eastern Multimedia Group, also saw the court impound NT$20.2 million (US$639,000) in alleged illegal profits Friday. He reportedly made the money by selling shares in his company before the public announcement of a major transaction which saw the Carlyle Group of the US buy a stake in his media empire.
Gary Wang is already spending time in prison on other charges, while earlier this year he was again charged for being able to manage his companies from his jail cell thanks to payments to senior prison officials.
Wang once served as a legislator for the Kuomintang, while his media empire included prominent TV station Eastern Television or ETTV. His father was once also a member of the ruling party’s powerful Central Standing Committee and the head of one of Taiwan’s top business associations.
