Jimmy Lai

Lai Chee-ying (born 8 December 1947 ), also known as Jimmy Lai, is a Hong Kong businessman and politician.

He founded Giordano, an Asian clothing retailer, Next Digital (formerly Next Media), a Hong Kong-listed media company, and the popular newspaper Apple Daily.

He is one of the main contributors to the pro-democracy camp, especially to the Democratic Party.

Lai was born in Canton (Guangzhou), China, on 8 December 1947.

At the age of 12, he entered Hong Kong as a stowaway on a boat.

Upon his arrival, Lai began work as a child labourer in a garment factory for a wage of the equivalent of US$8 per month.

Lai is a practising Catholic.

Lai's factory work saw him rise to the position of factory manager.

In 1975, Lai used his year-end bonus on Hong Kong stocks to raise cash and bought a bankrupt garment factory, Comitex, where he began producing sweaters.

Customers included J.C. Penney, Montgomery Ward, and other U.S. retailers.

By rewarding sellers with financial incentives in Hong Kong, he built the chain into an Asia-wide retailer.

Giordano was said to have more than 8,000 employees in 2,400 shops in 30 countries.

Lai has kept Comitex active as a shell company since he left the garment industry for media and politics in the 1990s.

During the dot-com boom of the late 1990s, Lai started an Internet-based grocery retailer that offered home delivery services, adMart.

The business expanded its product scope beyond groceries to include electronics and office supplies, but was shut down after losing between $100 and $150 million.

Lai attributed this business failure to overconfidence and a lack of viable business strategy.

Although he is known as a Hong Kong political figure, he has been a British national since 1996.

Lai is also an art collector.

In 1997 Lai put up the capital for his twin sister, Si Wai, to acquire numerous properties in the Southern Ontario wine and vacation region of Niagara-on-the-Lake.

The Lais Group of Companies now owns additional properties in Caledon and Jordan, both in Ontario.

Lai remains the owner despite his arrest.

In 2011, Next Media reportedly sold 70 per cent stake of Next Media's subsidiary Colored World Holdings (CWH, incorporated in the British Virgin Islands) to Sum Tat Ventures (STV, incorporated in the British Virgin Islands), a private company 100 per cent owned by Jimmy Lai.

CWH was estimated to have net asset value of US$6.1 million.

STV paid US$100 million in cash for 70 per cent stake of CWH.

CWH itself had its assets sold in 2011, and ceased operation in 2011.

In total, STV paid US$120 million in cash for CWH.

On Lai's Form 3B disclosure form, STV is listed as having the same correspondence address as Next Media in Hong Kong.

In 2013, STV paid another US$20 million for the remaining 30 per cent stake of CWH.

In July 2019, Lai met with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and National Security Advisor John Bolton.

Lai said "We in Hong Kong are fighting for the shared values of the US against China. We are fighting their war in the enemy camp."

A prominent critic of the Chinese Communist Party, Lai was arrested on 10 August 2020 by the Hong Kong police on charges of violating the territory's new national security law, an action which prompted widespread criticism.

Lai was allowed bail on 12 August, but on 3 December, Lai was accused of fraud and his bail was revoked.

The court decided to jail Lai until April 2021, marking the first time Lai has been detained.

Lai regarded his imprisonment as "the summit of his own life".

In December 2020, Lai was awarded the "Freedom of Press Award" by Reporters Without Borders for his role in founding Apple Daily, a news outlet under Lai's pro-democracy leadership that "still dares to openly criticise the Chinese regime and which widely covered last year's pro-democracy protests."

On 29 December, Lai resigned from his roles with Next Digital as director and chairman of the board.

In April 2021, he was sentenced to an additional 14 months in prison for organizing illegal protests.

As of September 2023, Lai remains imprisoned in solitary confinement at Hong Kong’s Stanley Prison.

After his arrest under National Security Law in August 2020, Lai tried to sell his asset in Hong Kong, including the entire floor of Tai Ping Industrial Centre.

The current owner of the property is Comitex Knitters Ltd. Comitex, along with other private companies controlled by Lai, was reported to be the financial tools for his political activities and donations.