Let us know about free updates
Chinese authorities released five employees of US due diligence firm Mintz Group from detention two years after Xi Jinping’s administration cracked down on consultants with foreign multinational companies.
“We understand that all Chinese citizens of Mintz Group’s Beijing employees who were detained are currently being released,” a company spokesman told the Financial Times.
“We are grateful to the Chinese authorities that our former colleagues can stay home with their family,” they added.
Mintz staff were detained by the Beijing Public Safety Bureau after the attack on a company’s office in China’s capital in 2023, leaving the country’s foreign investors on alert.
Mintz employees were accused of engaging in activities outside the formal scope of the company’s business license, according to anyone familiar with the matter.
It was not immediately clear whether all legal procedures related to the Chinese company had been resolved. After detention in 2023, Mintz closed its Chinese and Hong Kong offices.
In the second half of 2023, FT reported that between March 2019 and July 2022, US companies conducted 37 surveys, including “foreign-related statistics inquiries,” without legally necessary approvals.
Mintz was also required to pay a fine of about $1.5 million, which will be collected separately by the bureau.
The company declined to comment on Tuesday.
Recommended
Mintz detention was part of a wave of research into the Chinese operations of US consultants and due diligence companies, including Bain & Co and Expert Network Group Capvision.
The attack on the Chinese offices of companies and the detention of Mintz employees left behind the remaining fear of personal safety among the Chinese foreign business community.
Tuesday’s release comes to attract investment as XI courts foreign business leaders, the world’s second-largest economy slows down and President Donald Trump is increasing tariffs on China’s exports.
Many international business leaders, including Apple’s CEO Tim Cook, Pfizer boss, Albert Brula, Qualcomm CEO, Cristiano Amon, and more, have traveled to China to meet senior leaders in China recently.
