Hong Kong Warns HSBC, Citi Bankers of Jail Over Lai Accounts
- Banking Jimmy Lai could lead to seven years in prison
- Lai is the publisher of pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper
Jimmy Lai leaves the Court of Final Appeal following a bail hearing in Hong Kong in December.
Photographer: Chan Long Hei/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Hong Kong authorities sent letters threatening media tycoon Jimmy Lai’s bankers with as many as seven years in jail if they deal with any of his accounts in the city.
Security Secretary John Lee, who signed the letters seen by Bloomberg News, previously announced that he was freezing bank accounts linked to the publisher of the city’s pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper under Hong Kong’s sweeping national security law. The letters were sent to HSBC Holdings Plc and Citigroup Inc. earlier this month.