The Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) is currently probing Chinese national Yang Dan for allegedly swindling over $6 million from a group of Chinese investors. Dan is accused of fraudulently taking the funds under the pretext of selling shares in Duke Global Investment Limited (Duke Global), a company legally incorporated in Liberia.
The investigation was triggered by a criminal complaint filed on March 4, 2025, by several investors, including Luo Wei, Bingli I. Guo, Chunmei Yin, Hong Yin, Wei Jing, and Lijun Ding, who claim that Dan deceived them into paying large sums of money for shares in the company that he had no legal right to sell.
Despite being one of the original incorporators of Duke Global, Dan allegedly misled the investors into believing he was authorized to sell equity in the company. Dan’s alleged deception centered around his claim that he had the authority to negotiate new investments and sell shares, particularly in the company’s expansion into sectors such as mining, gold production, rice importation, and water production. However, investigators uncovered that Dan had no such authority and had never paid for the shares he initially subscribed to, meaning he legally had no rights to offer or sell them.
Documents obtained during the investigation reveal that Dan’s fraudulent actions resulted in significant financial losses for the investors. Among the defrauded amounts, Luo Wei allegedly paid Dan RMB 17,200,000 (about US$2.37 million), Chunmei Yin paid RMB 1,080,000 (approximately US$148,430), and Hong Yin and Jing Wei each paid RMB 2,000,000 (around US$275,482). Overall, Dan is believed to have misappropriated approximately US$4.58 million.
Duke Global, which was incorporated on December 8, 2023, lists Sekou A. M. Dukuly, the current Managing Director of Liberia’s National Port Authority, as the primary shareholder with a 43% stake. Dan, who held a 37% stake, and Liu Xiang, with a 20% stake, were co-incorporators. However, despite his position, Dan was found to have no right to sell or redistribute shares on behalf of the company.
The investigation also exposed that Dan misled investors like Luo Wei into believing he could sell a 22% stake in Duke Global for an investment of RMB 13.5 million (approximately US$1.86 million). It was further discovered that Dan diverted these funds for personal gain, without the consent of other company shareholders. Additionally, Dan allegedly established a foreign entity in Hong Kong, Danwei Investment Limited, through which he continued to defraud investors by promising significant stakes in Duke Global to unsuspecting parties.
Yang Dan’s fraudulent activities extended beyond Duke Global. Investigators revealed that Dan entered into a “Cooperation Agreement” with Shanghai Jinxin Network Technology Co., Ltd. (Shanghai) to form a joint venture to import and sell rice and building materials in Liberia. However, Dan had no authority to engage in such agreements on behalf of Duke Global, and he allegedly misappropriated US$148,430 from Shanghai.
Further defrauding activities involved promises of high returns from a water production plant project in Liberia, which Dan convinced investors such as Hong Yin and Jing Wei to fund. However, upon their arrival in Liberia, the investors discovered that no such operational project existed.
On March 7, 2025, Yang Dan was arrested by the Financial Crimes Division in Monrovia and is currently in custody pending further investigation.
Representatives for the defrauded investors, led by spokesperson Luo Wei, have expressed confidence in Liberia’s judicial system, calling for Dan to either return the stolen funds or face a substantial prison sentence. Despite their significant financial losses, the investors remain hopeful that the water plant project in Bomi County will eventually progress through restitution or alternative arrangements.
