British authorities block access to London assets of Chinese national accused of hiding illicit wealth

British prosecutors withheld Su Jiangbo’s name, calling him “Mr. X” in their March announcement of an asset freeze. OCCRP found out who he was and also found a Chinese arrest warrant for him.

Reporters have now found him living in Japan.

He is wanted in China for allegedly running illegal gambling operations, and the U.K. has frozen more than $100-million worth of his London real estate. 

But for the past two years, Su Jiangbo has been living in Japan where he runs a travel business and owns two properties, OCCRP and Kyodo News have discovered.

Land and company records obtained by Kyodo News show that Su Jiangbo purchased a house in his name in the suburbs of Osaka in 2024. He is also listed as the director of an Osaka-based tourism and real estate company, which owns another house.

“I chose to relocate to Japan because of its political and economic stability, well-developed infrastructure, robust intellectual property protection, and welcoming, civilised society,” Su Jiangbo told OCCRP in an email.

Those factors, he added, “provide a strong foundation for long-term business development.” 

In the U.K., the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) issued freezing orders on his 85 London properties, but referred to Su Jiangbo in its March announcement only as “Mr. X.” .

OCCRP and the Sunday Times revealed his identity, and how he purchased the properties using a “golden passport” from the Caribbean island nation of St. Kitts and Nevis, which he obtained through a citizen-by-investment scheme.

The CPS said in its announcement that Unexplained Wealth Orders and Interim Freezing Orders had been issued against a “Chinese national and associated U.K. companies, suspected of using money that has been illicitly obtained to purchase properties.” The CPS declined at the time to comment further on the case.

Su Jiangbo has not been charged with a crime in the U.K., and he strongly denies any wrongdoing. He told OCCRP he has hired lawyers to challenge the asset freeze. 

“All funds used to acquire the relevant assets are from legitimate sources, supported by complete financial records and documentation,” he said in an email, acknowledging that he is “Mr. X.”

He said he could not provide information about the source of the funds used to purchase the U.K. properties due to “the need to preserve procedural fairness.”

Meanwhile, Su Jiangbo was targeted by law enforcement in the country of his birth. A list of 38 wanted individuals published by Datian County Public Security Bureau in China’s southeast Fujian province, names him as a “fugitive criminal suspect.” Local courts did not respond to an earlier request for comment on the case. 

“I categorically deny having committed any criminal offence or illegal acts,” said Su Jiangbo.

“I have instructed my lawyers to deal with this matter, and it is inappropriate for me to go into greater detail on these baseless allegations at this stage,” he added.

Su Jiangbo

Travel Opportunities

Su Jiangbo said he moved to Japan in 2024 and zeroed in on the tourism industry.“The depreciation of the Japanese Yen in recent years has led to a booming tourism sector and created significant commercial opportunities,” he said.He incorporated his Osaka-based company, Tenichi Fuka Ltd, in April 2024 “to leverage the thriving Japanese tourism market.”Corporate records show that Su Jiangbo registered Tenichi Fuka under his other name, “Su Jimmy.” That’s his legal identity in Cambodia where he acquired citizenship in 2015.

The company website touts high-end travel packages in Japan that include “Michelin-level private dining,” as well as “signature spa rituals, and immersive nature therapies.”Su Jiangbo said he updated the company profile in Japan’s corporate registry in April this year to include other sectors like “real estate and construction,” as well as “mineral water business.”

Su Jiangbo is the sole shareholder of Tenichi Fuka, and he said there is “absolutely no connection” between the Japanese company and his U.K. firms, which own real estate frozen by authorities.  U.K. land records show that Su Jiangbo began buying real estate in that country just weeks before the Chinese list of wanted individuals was published on September 15, 2023.

He carried on buying until at least June 2025.Over that period, he accumulated about $108-million worth of London real estate, including a $13-million penthouse with a view overlooking St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Tate Modern art gallery, and the River Thames.

A Controversial Friend

In Japan, Su Jiangbo owns two properties just a few hundred meters from each other in a suburban part of Suita, a city in Osaka Prefecture.The house he holds in his own name is typical of suburban Japan, gray with a well-tended garden behind a locked gate. Through his company, Tenichi Fuka, Su Jiangbo owns another house nearby, which sits behind an imposing concrete and stone wall. 

The house owned by Su Jiangbo’s company in Suita, Osaka Prefecture, Japan.

That second house was recently used by a man named Hu Xiaowei as a correspondence address in Japanese company records. Hu Xiaowei was sanctioned by the U.S. as part of an international crackdown on the Prince Group, a Cambodian conglomerate accused of running “industrial-scale” cyber-scam operations.

A Prince Group spokesperson previously told OCCRP the conglomerate is “innocent of the wild and unfounded accusations made by the U.S government, parroted in jurisdictions around the world.”

Su Jiangbo said he has “no relationship whatsoever with Prince Group of Cambodia.”

He said he met Hu Xiaowei in London in 2023 and struck up a friendship. Since Hu Xiaowei “has frequently visited Osaka in recent years but does not have a fixed address there,” he allowed him to use his address.

“This was merely a short-term arrangement to assist a friend, with no commercial or other relationship involved. The arrangement ended in April 2026,” Su Jiangbo, adding that Hu Xiaowei has “also temporarily stayed at my residence.”

“It is my understanding that Mr Hu was planning to relocate to and move the centre of his life to Tokyo,” said Su Jiangbo. “I respect his personal decision and arrangements.”

Hu Xiaowei did not respond to requests for comment sent to his personal assistant, who previously corresponded on his behalf. OCCRP found no other evidence of connections between Su Jiangbo and the Prince Group. 

‘Distant Water Fishing’

Su Jiangbo dismissed the significance of the Chinese warrant for his arrest. 

He noted that the people on the list were all wanted in separate cases, pointing out that the notice “does not allege a joint enterprise among the 38 individuals.”

The list posted by the Datian County Public Security Bureau included alleged crimes ranging from “aiding and abetting cybercrime” to “illegally crossing the national border,” and “disrupting the socialist market economic order.”

The notice stated that Su Jiangbo was “suspected of operating a casino.” Gambling is illegal in China, except in the special administrative region of Macau.

Authorities were offering rewards at the time for any information leading to the apprehension of the 38 people listed. 

“Those who conceal or harbor fugitive criminal suspects will be held legally responsible; those who retaliate against informants will be severely punished according to law; fugitive criminal suspects who voluntarily surrender and truthfully confess their crimes will be treated leniently according to law,” the notice stated.

Su Jiangbo pointed out that the reward on offer was only “a mere RMB 1,000,” which was equal to about $137 in September 2023.

He accused Chinese authorities of using a tactic against him known as “distant water fishing,” which entails “the abuse of criminal procedures to intimidate private entrepreneurs and wealthy individuals into paying ransoms to generate additional public revenue.”

Human Rights Watch has said “‘distant water fishing’ involves poorer inland governments reaching beyond their jurisdictions to ‘catch’ companies based in wealthier coastal provinces.”

“They accuse them of fraud or other wrongdoing, freeze and confiscate their assets, and then compel them to pay large fines,” the rights group said.

Su Jiangbo said his success in business attracted the attention of authorities in Datian County who accused him of a crime he did not commit.

“I have every reason to believe that the local Chinese authorities, having found out about my financial means, are utilising this as a pressure tactic to extort money from me,” Su Jiangbo said.