Behind a $18 Billion Donation to a New York Charity, a Shadowy Chinese Conglomerate - The New York Times

Behind a $18 Billion Donation to a New York Charity, a Shadowy Chinese Conglomerate - The New York Times: At first glance, it appears to be one of the most generous donations in the history of philanthropic giving in America.

A Chinese man has transferred more than 29 percent of HNA Group of China — the equivalent of as much as $18 billion — to a New York-based private foundation. The donation puts him in the same league as donors like Bill Gates and Warren E. Buffett and almost matched the combined giving of all American corporations in 2016.

But it has not been disclosed how that man, Guan Jun, who is in his 30s, came to own such a large piece of one of China’s biggest conglomerates. His registered address in Beijing is a modest apartment at the end of a dingy hallway littered with discarded furniture and bags of trash.

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