Taipei prosecutors yesterday indicted businessman Liu Wei-fu (劉威甫) over allegations that he defrauded investors by touting a mushroom as a cancer cure.
In promotions and adverts, Liu billed himself as “King of the Antrodia Mushroom” (Antrodia cinnamomea) after he set up a business empire based on its medicinal properties, claiming it was a cure for cancer and other chronic illnesses.
Investigators found that Liu started his business in 2014, established the “Mushroom Hall” conglomerate the following year with subsidiary biotechnology and sales firms in China and Taiwan, while conducting promotional seminars to attract investment.
Photo: Lo Hsin-chen, Taipei Times
Liu was successful in the beginning, promoting the mushroom as the “most valuable treasure of Taiwan,” as it originates in Taiwanese mountain forests.
The mushroom grows on the decaying trunks of Taiwan’s native species of stout camphor tree.
His business expanded swiftly and he opened more than 100 branches in China, before returning to Taiwan to register the company in 2017.
Liu, Mushroom Hall general manager Chuang Li-ping (莊立平) and Chang Kuei-ming (張桂銘) were among 13 company executives and employees indicted on suspicion of defrauding more than 200 Taiwanese investors of more than NT$2.86 billion (US$93.22 million at the current exchange rate).
Liu, Chuang and Chang also allegedly used the money to run an underground security brokerage service and were found to have made NT$80.41 million profit.
The 13 suspects are facing fraud charges, along with breaches of the Banking Act (銀行法) and the Securities and Exchange Act (證券交易法).
A judicial investigation into the case commenced in 2019, when Taiwanese investors filed complaints about not receiving guaranteed monthly returns.
Investors said that Liu claimed to have proprietary biotechnology to grow the mushroom, including its successful “cultivation on linden tree wood,” and would concentrate the active ingredients into capsule form.
One investor surnamed Chou (周) said that he and some of his relatives were enticed by the promotion, as Liu had promised a return on investment of 45 percent to 66 percent per year.
His family invested NT$15 million, for which they had received some monthly profits and bonuses at first, thereby thinking it was a legitimate business operation.
Chou said that he and other investors were also persuaded to pay NT$700 as a “cultivation fee” to grow their own registered mushroom, which company executives promised to pay back when the mushroom was harvested.
However, investors began to have doubts in late 2018 when they did not receive the promised profits and they discovered the company’s offices in Taiwan were closed.
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