Fugitive CEO of QVOD is repatriated after 110 days

Wang Xin, the fugitive CEO of Shenzhen QVOD Technology who fled the Chinese mainland after authorities began investigating him and his company on suspicion of spreading pornographic content online, was repatriated to China after being on the run for 110 days, China's anti-porn watchdog said on Friday.

Wang, 34, was arrested trying to enter a foreign country on Aug 7. The National Office Against Pornographic and Illegal Publications did not disclose which country he was attempting to enter. He was repatriated to China on Aug 8.

After repatriation, Wang confessed in an interrogation that he was fully aware that his company had stored large quantities of obscene and pornographic videos on its servers. Still, he gave the green light for the company's peer-to-peer video streaming technology to share the pirated and pornographic videos in an aim to boost company revenues, according to the anti-porn agency.

The agency said the Beijing police began investigating Wang's company in April for allegedly spreading pornographic content online. They arrested several company employees, but Wang soon fled the Chinese mainland.

The International Criminal Police Organization then issued a warrant for his arrest.

The case is still under investigation, the anti-porn agency said.

His company is on the verge of bankruptcy after it was ordered to pay a fine of 260 million yuan ($42.3 million) over copyright infringements by the Shenzhen Market Supervision Administration in June.

Legal experts said Wang faces a sentence of at least 10 years in prison.

Wang founded QVOD in 2007 in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, to produce streaming media applications and entertainment software. Its user base quickly grew to 300 million.

In early April, the company shut down its QVOD (which stands for quasi video on demand) servers after the National Copyright Administration said it, along with Baidu's video service, committed copyright violations. That service has not been resumed.

Xinhua contributed to this story.

chenhong@chinadaily.com.cn