Whitney Duan and her ex-husband Desmond Shum were closely tied to China's elites and involved in several large developments in Beijing, Time magazine reported. In 2017, Duan, who also goes by Duan Weihong, disappeared in Beijing without a trace.
It came after she spoke with The New York Times during a 2012 investigation that found many of the relatives of then-Prime Minister Wen Jiabao became exceedingly wealthy during his political career, controlling at least $2.7 billion in assets. Duan herself was implicated in the scandal, although she denied having financial ties to the prime minister.
After Duan's disappearance, Shum told Time he couldn't get in touch with her for four years. He left the country and hasn't returned since his ex-wife's disappearance.
Then, in September 2021, Shum told Time he got messages from Duan urging him to call her. He did, and for the first time in four years, her line wasn't dead. Shum said Duan begged him not to publish his recent book "Red Roulette: An Insider's Story of Wealth, Power, Corruption, and Vengeance in Today's China", which details corruption in the Chinese Communist Party.
"She asked me to stop the book launch, saying: 'How would you feel if something happened to our son? And what would happen to our son if something happened to me?' I took that to be a threat," Shum told Time.
Forbes reported a disturbing pattern that saw several billionaires and wealthy moguls had vanished from the public sphere for a period of time. Some reportedly were detained to assist with investigations.