Federal authorities in New York charged Chinese millionaire real estate developer Ng Lap Seng for lying about his plans for the $4.5 million in cash he brought into the U.S. recently aboard private jets.
Seng, listed as one of the wealthiest men in the world, was incarcerated since Saturday.
The Chinese real estate mogul have failed to convince the magistrate judge last Monday that he would return to court when he is released. The lawyer representing Mr. Seng said that the case against his client was caused by misunderstanding.
According to ABC News, Agents from FBI surveilled Mr. Seng on several of his most recent trips and found that "at no point" was he seen "looking at paintings available for purchase, purchasing paintings, or gambling," even if Mr.Seng claimed that he brought the money in the United States for "real estate, art or for gambling"
The complaint states that Seng brought a suitcase full of $400,000 in cash to the United States on June 13 and later on the same day brought the suitcase to a meeting with "Business Associate-1" in Queens, New York.
In a report from the Real Deal, a New York Real Estate News Agency, Senate committee reported that Mr. Seng sent over $1.1 million to a one-time Little Rock, Arkansas restaurant owner, who in turn forward hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Democratic National Committee last 1998.
According to the Associated Press, Mr. Sheng is a prominent real estate developer based on the island and gambling destination of Macau and was at the center of a Democratic campaign fundraising scandal two decades ago.
ABC News reported that Seng is the alleged secret source of foreign money in a campaign finance scandal during the Clinton administration, on charges he lied about why he brought more than $4.5 million in cash into the United States over the last two years.
He visited the White House ten times from 1994 and 1996 during the term of former United States President Bill Clinton.
