China probes celebrity monk over embezzlement, sexual misconduct claims
Shi Yongxin, the abbot of the Shaolin Temple until he lost his ordination, was under scrutiny for allegedly misappropriating temple assets, the 1500-year-old monastery said in a notice on its official WeChat account on Sunday.
The institution also accused Yongxin of violating Buddhist precepts by having long-term relationships with several women and fathering illegitimate children.
The announcement raises questions about timing that have dominated Chinese social media. Many users wondered why authorities acted now, nearly a decade after disciples first publicly accused Yongxin of similar behaviour in 2015.
Yongxin, the dharma name he is known by, emerged largely unscathed from allegations, including of rape, embezzlement and fathering children, at the time.
Henan provincial authorities cleared him of a claim of having an illegitimate daughter that year and accusations of financial wrongdoing in 2017, citing insufficient evidence.
Loading
Bloomberg News has been unable to reach Yongxin. The Shaolin Temple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The China Buddhist Association moved swiftly to distance itself from Yongxin, announcing on Monday that it had cancelled his ordination certificate.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Perth Now
3 hours ago
- Perth Now
ASIO boss reveals huge cost of espionage
Foreign espionage is costing the Australian economy at least $12.5bn a year, with the ASIO boss warning against complacency against the 'real, present and costly danger'. The director-general of security agency Mike Burgess has for the first time publicly put a dollar figure on what foreign spies are costing Australia and espionage remains one of the country's principal security concerns. 'This is critical because I believe that we need to wake up to the cost of espionage – which is more than just financial,' he said in the annual Hawke Lecture at the University of Adelaide on Thursday night. 'We need to understand espionage is not some quaint, romantic fiction; it's a real, present and costly danger.' ASIO director-general Mike Burgess issued his warning delivering the annual Hawke Lecture at Adelaide University. NewsWire / Martin Ollman Credit: News Corp Australia Mr Burgess released a new report that ASIO developed with the Australian Institute of Criminology, to try to count the cost of espionage. The report found espionage cost the Australian economy at least $12.5bn in the 2023-2024 financial year, an estimate Mr Burgess called 'conservative'. 'This includes the direct costs of known espionage incidents, such as the state-sponsored theft of intellectual property, as well as the indirect costs of countering and responding,' he said. 'As just one example, the Institute estimates foreign cyber spies stole nearly $2bn of trade secrets and intellectual property from Australian companies and businesses in 2023-24. 'The report includes a case study where spies hacked into the computer network of a major Australian exporter, making off with commercially sensitive information. 'The theft gave the foreign country a significant advantage in subsequent contract negotiations, costing Australia hundreds of millions of dollars.' Mr Burgess said too many were complacent about the cost of espionage and urged 'all parts of our system – public and private, federal, state and local – to recognise the threat'. 'I've lost count of the number of times senior officials and executives have privately downplayed the impacts of espionage,' he said. 'I've watched corporate leaders literally shrug their shoulders when told their networks are compromised. 'I've heard sensible security measures such as taking burner phones to high-risk countries described as unreasonable inconveniences. 'Most recently, a trade official told ASIO there's no way the Chinese intelligence services would have any interest in his organisation's people and premises in China.' Russia, led by President Vladimir Putin, was singled out by ASIO boss Mike Burgess. NewsWire / POOL / AFP / Mikhail Metzel Credit: NewsWire He again listed China, Russia and Iran as three of the main nations behind espionage in Australia and said Russia remained 'a persistent and aggressive espionage threat'. 'Last year, two Russian-born Australian citizens were arrested and charged with an espionage-related offence,' Mr Burgess said. 'Separately, I can confirm in 2022 a number of undeclared Russian intelligence officers were removed from this country. 'But Russia is by no means the only country we have to deal with. 'You would be genuinely shocked by the number and names of countries trying to steal our secrets. 'The obvious candidates are very active … but many other countries are also targeting anyone and anything that could give them a strategic or tactical advantage, including sensitive but unclassified information.' Mr Burgess revealed ASIO had disrupted 24 'major espionage and foreign interference' operations in the past three years alone. 'Nation states are spying at unprecedented levels, with unprecedented sophistication,' he said. 'ASIO is seeing more Australians targeted – more aggressively – than ever before.' While AUKUS and military technology secrets were targets, Australia's intellectual property and cutting edge research was also in the sights of foreign agents. ASIO director-general Mike Burgess said spies were targeting Australia's cutting edge research and technology as well as defence secrets. NewsWire / Martin Ollman Credit: News Corp Australia He said an overseas delegation visiting a 'sensitive Australian horticultural facility' snapped branches off a 'rare and valuable variety of fruit tree' in order to steal them. 'Almost certainly, the stolen plant material allowed scientists in the other country to reverse engineer and replicate two decades of Australian research and development,' he said. He said foreign intelligence services are 'proactive, creative and opportunistic' in their targets. 'In recent years, for example, defence employees travelling overseas have been subjected to covert room searches, been approached at conferences by spies in disguise and given gifts containing surveillance devices. 'Defence is alert to these threats and works closely with ASIO to counter them.'
News.com.au
a day ago
- News.com.au
‘Heinous' alleged $2m betting scam funded ‘life of luxury', court told
A Sydney man is accused of scamming millions from friends and schoolmates to fund a life of luxury including sports cars, expensive hotels and Rolex watches. Chao Wang, 23, appeared in Bankstown Local Court on Wednesday facing allegations he perpetrated a 'heinous' scam to extract more than $2 million from more than a dozen victims by convincing them to invest in a fake betting company. Wang was arrested in June after flying back into Australia and charged with a string of serious fraud offences. NSW Police began investigating the former Ashfield Boys High captain in August 2023 after an alleged victim came forward to complain that they had been allegedly scammed after investing in Mr Wang's betting company, Lotzkebets. According to court documents, Mr Wang graduated from Ashfield Boys High in 2019, and in 2021 registered Lotzkebets, which he claimed was an online gambling company. It's alleged in the court documents that he solicited investments from friends, including former schoolmates, promising them large returns and used falsified documents to back up his claims. He would then allegedly ask for more money from his alleged victims by claiming their returns were being held up due to 'vague money laundering concerns' or because of unpaid GST. According to police allegations, he also made himself out to be a member of the Chinese triad with links to Middle Eastern crime families. He is alleged to have extorted $2,091,000 from 13 victims. According to court documents, the ATO indicated that Lotzkebets was never a legitimate company. It's alleged that Mr Wang had a gambling problem and had lost over $1.1 million to online betting companies. According to the court documents, he defrauded one victim of $112,000 and offered him a Rolex watch as collateral on the repayments - only the watch was fake, police say. He is alleged to have fleeced another schoolmate of $450,000, leading the friend to launch civil proceedings, however he was only able to recover just over $90,000. According to court documents, Mr Wang was living in luxury hotels in the Sydney CBD and renting sports cars. He allowed one of his alleged victims to drive a rented Lamborghini Aventador but demanded $150,000 from him after claiming he had scraped the bottom of the vehicle. Police allege Mr Wang had threatened the man over the supposed debt and claimed that a member of the Hamzy crime family would murder him. The man was allegedly defrauded of over $220,000 and made a police report in July 2023 - but by this time Mr Wang had already left Australia for Thailand and an arrest warrant was issued. Mr Wang was arrested upon his return to Australia earlier this year and charged over one of the incidents. He was later charged with further offences and remains in custody on remand. According to the court documents, police alleged Mr Wang lived with his parents and 'lived a life of luxury at the misery of his victims.' 'The accused's conduct is made more heinous by the fact that he exploited his friends' trust to defraud them, he fully knew that his victims were borrowing from their families to satisfy his own greed,' police allege in the documents. 'He knew that this was causing serious issues for his victims with their families yet he aggressively pursued his victims for more funds.' He was charged with 11 counts of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception, two counts of making false documents to obtain financial advantage and one count of demand with menaces.
Perth Now
a day ago
- Perth Now
Alleged $2m bet scam funded ‘life of luxury'
A Sydney man is accused of scamming millions from friends and schoolmates to fund a life of luxury including sports cars, expensive hotels and Rolex watches. Chao Wang, 23, appeared in Bankstown Local Court on Wednesday facing allegations he perpetrated a 'heinous' scam to extract more than $2 million from more than a dozen victims by convincing them to invest in a fake betting company. Wang was arrested in June after flying back into Australia and charged with a string of serious fraud offences. NSW Police began investigating the former Ashfield Boys High captain in August 2023 after an alleged victim came forward to complain that they had been allegedly scammed after investing in Mr Wang's betting company, Lotzkebets. According to court documents, Mr Wang graduated from Ashfield Boys High in 2019, and in 2021 registered Lotzkebets, which he claimed was an online gambling company. It's alleged in the court documents that he solicited investments from friends, including former schoolmates, promising them large returns and used falsified documents to back up his claims. Former Ashfield Boys High captain Chao Wang has been charged over an alleged $2m betting scam. Supplied. Credit: News Corp Australia He would then allegedly ask for more money from his alleged victims by claiming their returns were being held up due to 'vague money laundering concerns' or because of unpaid GST. According to police allegations, he also made himself out to be a member of the Chinese triad with links to Middle Eastern crime families. He is alleged to have extorted $2,091,000 from 13 victims. According to court documents, the ATO indicated that Lotzkebets was never a legitimate company. It's alleged that Mr Wang had a gambling problem and had lost over $1.1 million to online betting companies. According to the court documents, he defrauded one victim of $112,000 and offered him a Rolex watch as collateral on the repayments - only the watch was fake, police say. He is alleged to have fleeced another schoolmate of $450,000, leading the friend to launch civil proceedings, however he was only able to recover just over $90,000. According to court documents, Mr Wang was living in luxury hotels in the Sydney CBD and renting sports cars. He allowed one of his alleged victims to drive a rented Lamborghini Aventador but demanded $150,000 from him after claiming he had scraped the bottom of the vehicle. Police allege Mr Wang had threatened the man over the supposed debt and claimed that a member of the Hamzy crime family would murder him. Chao Wang has been charged with a series of serious fraud offences. Supplied. Credit: News Corp Australia The man was allegedly defrauded of over $220,000 and made a police report in July 2023 - but by this time Mr Wang had already left Australia for Thailand and an arrest warrant was issued. Mr Wang was arrested upon his return to Australia earlier this year and charged over one of the incidents. He was later charged with further offences and remains in custody on remand. According to the court documents, police alleged Mr Wang lived with his parents and 'lived a life of luxury at the misery of his victims.' 'The accused's conduct is made more heinous by the fact that he exploited his friends' trust to defraud them, he fully knew that his victims were borrowing from their families to satisfy his own greed,' police allege in the documents. 'He knew that this was causing serious issues for his victims with their families yet he aggressively pursued his victims for more funds.' He was charged with 11 counts of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception, two counts of making false documents to obtain financial advantage and one count of demand with menaces. His matter was mentioned in Bankstown Local Court on Wednesday and he will appear in court again on September 24.
