Travel ban for tech group founder's wife

Gan Wei, the wife of former Chinese technology tycoon Jia Yueting, has been banned from leaving China over non-payment of a 533 million yuan (US$76 million) debt, according to a notice posted on the Shanghai High People’s Court website on Wednesday.

Last year, Shanghai No.1 Intermediate People's Court ruled that LeView Mobile HK had to repay 500 million yuan plus 19 million yuan in interest to a China Merchants Bank branch in Shanghai. 

As guarantors for LeView, Gan and Jia, founder and former chairman of LeEco, were responsible for repaying part of the money.

LeEco started as an online video platform but later moved into smartphones, ride-hailing applications, real estate, sports entertainment and eventually electric cars in 2016. The conglomerate has since struggled to make payments to creditors and suppliers.

Jia, who used to control the sprawling technology conglomerate, left China in July 2017 to "take care of his electric car start-up." 

He defied a previous Beijing court order to return to China to deal with other debt issues. Instead, he sent his wife Gan back to China and appointed her as LeEco shareholder to deal with the debt crisis. 

It has been reported Jia has been listed as defaulter seven times. Gan was also listed defaulter in 2018. Defaulters are restricted from traveling by train and airplane, as well as visiting hotels and restaurants. Their children will also be restricted from attending expensive schools.

In November last year, Gan started to seek a divorce at a court in Sichuan Province, demanding that Jia bears all their debts. The divorce case raised concerns and is still going on.