On the morning of November 18, the Taijiang Branch of the Fuzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau in Fujian Province announced that it had initiated an investigation into Fujian Keguan Jewelry Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Keguan Jewelry”) for suspected offenses in accordance with the law. Investors were asked to register relevant information at the local police station where they had signed contracts with the company.
On November 18, The Paper successively visited five Keguan Jewelry stores in downtown Fuzhou, all of which were closed. Photo by Wang Xuanhui, The Paper reporter.
In the past period, several Fuzhou residents reported to The Paper (www.thepaper.cn) that since mid-to-late September this year, Keguan Jewelry had experienced difficulties in normally redeeming its gold products.
The legal representative of Keguan Jewelry is Xiao Jichang, who is also the chairman of Fujian Dayou Keguan Investment Group and holds multiple titles such as member of the Standing Committee of the Fuzhou Political Consultative Conference.
The Paper noted that over the past month, Xiao Jichang had appeared in several online livestreams, acknowledging that the company was currently unable to fully redeem and was working on a relevant liquidation plan. He claimed that Keguan Jewelry had not “exploded” and stated that he had “not run away”.
Multiple investors claimed that Keguan Jewelry’s so-called liquidation plan had not been implemented, and only a small number of small investors had received refunds, while most investors had not received any money.
On the same day, The Paper successively visited five Keguan Jewelry stores in downtown Fuzhou, all of which were closed. Meanwhile, The Paper attempted to contact Keguan Jewelry’s national service hotline and Xiao Jichang, but the calls were not answered.
Keguan Jewelry showcased its past honors on its official WeChat account. Screenshot from Keguan Jewelry’s official WeChat account.
Multiple investors reported that redemption issues arose at the end of September.
Keguan Jewelry was established in 2012. According to its official WeChat account, it has been deeply rooted in Fuzhou for 13 years and now has over 30 direct-operated stores. It was listed on the New Third Board in August 2016. According to Tianyan Cha, Keguan Jewelry terminated its listing and delisted in January 2024.
On Keguan Jewelry’s official WeChat account, the “Development Milestones” section showcases the company’s numerous past honors: it was awarded the title of “Youth Civilization” at the provincial level in Fujian from 2018 to 2020, and later received the 21st “National Youth Civilization”; in 2021, it became a member of the Fuzhou City Integrity Promotion Association; in 2022, it purchased a standalone building as its group headquarters in the Fuzhou Big Data Science and Technology Park; in 2024, it received the honor of “Fuzhou Jewelry Influential Brand” for the year 2023…
Before this incident, the company’s leader Xiao Jichang was also full of honors. As the chairman of Dayou Keguan Group, he is a member of the 14th Standing Committee of the Fuzhou Political Consultative Conference. He also serves as the vice president of the Fuzhou Youth Entrepreneurs Chamber of Commerce, the vice president of the Fujian Youth Entrepreneurship Promotion Association, the president of the Fuzhou Real Estate Agency Industry Association, the vice president of the Fuzhou Federation of Industry and Commerce, the executive vice president of the Fujian Youth Entrepreneurs Federation, and the vice president of the Fuzhou Gem and Jade Association.
In 2016, Fuzhou resident Lin Peng was introduced to and purchased products from Keguan Jewelry by one of its salesmen. Lin Peng said that he signed a gold subscription contract and spent over 80,000 yuan to subscribe to 300 grams of gold based on the gold price at that time. It was agreed that he could not withdraw cash or gold for one year. After a year, if the gold price increased, he could obtain the profit from the increase; if the gold price decreased, the store would “guarantee no loss” based on the previous gold price and he could also receive a “gold interest” of 5 grams of gold.
After a year, the gold price rose, and Lin Peng’s product earned over 10,000 yuan in profit. Afterwards, he continued to purchase more, investing another 490,000 yuan at the beginning of this year.
Lin Peng noticed something was amiss in mid-September this year. Originally, a “gold interest” of over 5,000 yuan was supposed to be credited to his account, but after repeatedly contacting the store manager, there was no result.
Luo Ting, who had invested in Keguan Jewelry for five years, also discovered issues during the same period. Over the years, she had invested over 1.2 million yuan, including 300 grams of gold funds that should have been received on September 27, but the payment had not arrived by September 29.
Chen Yun learned about and purchased Keguan Jewelry’s products in 2020. Due to her optimistic view on the rising trend of gold prices, she successively invested over 3 million yuan in principal, with many payments made through credit cards. At the end of September, the payment for 600 grams of gold that was supposed to arrive did not, and after communicating with other investors, she found that everyone had encountered issues with normal redemption.
A promotional video of Keguan Jewelry claimed that it had a perpetual reserve of 1.6 tons of risk guarantee gold bars. Screenshot from the promotional video.
It once claimed to have a reserve of 1.6 tons of risk guarantee gold bars and issued a statement denying any “explosion”.
The contract obtained by The Paper from Chen Yun showed that the parties signed a “Gold Bar Subscription Contract” and a “Gold Product Customization Commission Contract”. The contracting units were not Fujian Keguan Jewelry Co., Ltd., but Fuzhou Zhongfu Keguan Trading Co., Ltd. and Fuzhou Keguan Fuyue Trading Co., Ltd.
The subscription contract stated, “Given that Party B (the investor) has a clear intention to purchase Party A’s products, the parties now reach a contractual agreement on Party B’s subscription to purchase products (physical gold bars) from Party A (the supplier).” The contract stated that the delivery period for the gold bars subscribed by Party B was 12 months, with delivery upon expiration.
Multiple investors said that they did not carefully read the terms when signing the contract. “They had so much publicity, and the chairman was a reputable figure. Based on this trust, we dared to invest boldly.”
In September this year, Keguan Jewelry organized consumers to visit its headquarters vault. In its promotional video, Keguan Jewelry claimed to adopt “bank-level risk control management standards” and perpetually reserve 1.6 tons of risk guarantee gold bars. The vault was managed with government cloud supervision seals, and dedicated personnel conducted regular inventories to ensure safety and transparency. “Government supervision makes it more reliable.”
On October 13, Xiao Jichang responded to the “1.6 tons of risk guarantee gold bars” in a video posted on Douyin. He said that as a company, the government required it to have sufficient reserves to withstand market risks. “This is a suggestion from the government, and we have adopted it. Whether we can achieve it and whether we have the ability to withstand risks depends on the company’s own strength.” Regarding the open vault visit at that time, Xiao Jichang said that the market pressure was very high, and they wanted to prove their strength through this method. “But this is not fraud; it’s a way for us to prove our strength. Ultimately, whether the gold can withstand market risks still depends on changes in the environment.”
In September this year, Fujian Furuiling Jewelry Co., Ltd. was accused of “exploding”, and subsequently, the Taijiang Branch of the Fuzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau announced that it was investigating the “Fujian Furuiling Jewelry Co., Ltd. fund-raising fraud case” and was seeking victims of the case in the announcement. Afterwards, there were some voices on the internet claiming that “Keguan Jewelry had also exploded”.
In response, on September 14, Keguan Jewelry issued a statement on its official WeChat account stating, “Recently, our company has noticed that due to the cessation of business at the stores of a certain ‘Rui’ jewelry brand, some individuals have used the internet to spread false statements that defame our company’s reputation and disseminate false facts. There have even been some social individuals impersonating our company’s personnel and willfully making false statements. The aforementioned behaviors have seriously damaged our company’s reputation and social evaluation, infringing upon our company’s reputation.”
Keguan Jewelry also stated, “Regarding the collected evidence of false statements and infringements on the internet, our company has commissioned a professional legal team to conduct evidence collection and preservation work. Our company will take legal measures and will report to supervisory and inspection departments, resolutely pursuing all civil, administrative, and even criminal legal liabilities of the relevant individuals.”
The leader of Keguan Jewelry, Xiao Jichang, appeared to respond and