How Can Li Hongzhi Afford to Buy a
House Worth US$580,000?

By Zhen Yan

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, an estate of 4,600 sq ft near Princeton University in the US state of New Jersey was bought for the sum of $580,000 under the name of Li Rui, Li Hongzhi's wife, at the beginning of 1999. Although a spokesman for Li Hongzhi has told the press that it was presented to him as a gift by John Sun, one of his most faithful followers, and he has paid John Sun for it, I still have some doubts, and hope Li Hongzhi will clarify the facts himself:

1. Since you ``have repaid the money'' to John Sun and bought the estate, why did John Sun, your ``most faithful follower,'' say that the property right of the house was transferred under his name in mid-July? Could it be that John Sun was telling a lie?

2. According to the records of the local county government, the house-owner remained Li Rui in August. So John Sun was lying! Then, did he really buy the house? It is reported that ``John Sun's wife told a reporter in her house on Statten Island in New York that she never knew that her husband had an estate in New Jersey. Did Sun buy the house behind his wife's back? However, US$580,000 is not a small sum of money!

3. It is also reported that ``the house in New Jersey has been renovated luxuriously from time to time since May 1999, and the private swimming pool in the rear garden alone is worth US$24,000. The neighbors did not know who lived in the splendid house. They only noticed that luxurious cars often went in and out and a teenage Asian girl was often seen in the garden. A close assistant of Li Hongzhi came and went in August. --Therefore, John Sun must have spent more than US$580,000 behind his wife's back; otherwise, who had the house ``renovated luxuriously''? Li Hongzhi or Li Rui? According to the financial situation of American families, it would be almost impossible for John Sun to spend hundreds of thousands of US dollars behind his wife's back. Therefore, either your ``most faithful follower'' was lying, or the house was actually bought by yourself or your wife, but was not presented as a gift by John Sun!

4. How have you made a living during the less than two years since you went to the United States in 1998? What is the source of your income?

5. Your wife bought a US$300,000 house in June 1998, just after you arrived in the United States. Where did the money come from? Since you and your wife were just ordinary working people in a small town in China, how could you save such a large sum of money when you said your ``annual income was less than US$500''?

6. You have denied that you have ``amassed money from `Falun Gong' believers through charging for speeches and expensive books,'' and claimed that ``you lead a comfortable life on the royalties from your books,'' and that you ``cannot get the royalties owed to you because many books on `Falun Gong' have been pirated.'' Then why do you not dare reveal your royalties income? Either you have an illegal income, or you have other incomes, and your money comes from questionable sources.You must have amassed a great deal of wealth from `Falun Gong' practitioners! Otherwise, how could you spend almost one million US dollars to buy estates in less than two years?

So, I believe that many people would like to ask Li Hongzhi--How can you afford to buy a splendid US$580,000 house?

(Compiled by New Star Publishers, Dec., 1999)