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LeEco founder Jia Yueting receives financial lifeline from mystery Hong Kong investor

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Chinese businessman Jia Yueting, founder of LeEco, has remained in the US since July last year, refusing to comply with requests by mainland regulators that he return to China. Photo: Bloomberg

Struggling Chinese businessman Jia Yueting, who is on a nationwide blacklist of debt defaulters, has received a funding lifeline from a mysterious Hong Kong investor, Caixin reported.

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Shi Ying, a British Virgin Islands registered company, has agreed to invest US$2 billion into Jia’s company Faraday Future, in several tranches, for a 45 per cent stake of the company. 

Jia founded Faraday Future in 2014 in Los Angeles, to build electric cars that could challenge Tesla.

The company’s operations in Nevada were shut late last year as Jia struggled to keep his cash-strapped business empire afloat.

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Following the latest capital injection, Jia will hold 33 per cent of Faraday Future, while the remaining 22 per cent will be owned by management.

The first tranche worth US$550 million has been injected to the company, Caixin reported on Wednesday, quoting Shi Ying’s director Jackie Wah Wang Kei.

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