On April 19, "96 properties under the name of Zhang Ting and his wife were seized" rushed to the top of the Weibo hot search list.
According to the surging news, the Dalway company founded and operated by Zhang Tinglin Ruiyang and his wife was engaged in pyramid schemes, resulting in the seizure of 96 properties held by the company's wholly-owned subsidiaries Shanghai Zhenhong Biotechnology Co., Ltd. and Shanghai Juju Yiwang Industrial Co., Ltd., worth 1.7 billion yuan, and the date of seizure was July 20, 2021.
In the afternoon of the same day, the company's official Weibo issued a lawyer's letter, saying that the company accepted and cooperated with the legal investigation of the relevant departments, and the reason why it has not been silent is because the company consciously abides by the requirements of relevant laws and regulations, and due to the complexity of the case, the company is currently inconvenient to answer questions from all parties.
The lawyer's letter was sent on the official Microblog of "TST"
Mr. and Mrs. Zhang Ting and their "TST Micro-Business Empire"
Zhang Ting and her husband, Lin Ruiyang, were once household stars. "Dimple goddess" Zhang Ting, became popular in 1991 for "Joke About Qianlong", and in 2003, he and Xu Zheng starred in "Love Through Time and Space", which is also a hit; Lin Ruiyang, who starred in Chu Lian in Qiong Yao's drama "A Curtain of Dreams", is known as "Taiwan's first young student".
Stills of Zhang Ting's "Joke about Qianlong"
Stills from Lin Ruiyang's "A Curtain of Dreams"
In 1996, Zhang and Lin met because of a cooperation. In 1998, Lin Ruiyang, who had a wife and a son at the time, was photographed holding hands with Zhang Ting, and there was an extramarital affair scandal, and public opinion was in an uproar for a while. Under the pressure of public opinion, Lin Ruiyang quit the show business circle and began his business career.
Lin Ruiyang, who began to work in business, became involved in the real estate agency industry. During this period, he set a record of selling 578 houses in 28 days, and managed the company's business in 13 provinces and cities in China, with total sales of 33 billion yuan.
After that, Lin Ruiyang set his sights on female consumer groups, and in 2013, Lin Ruiyang Zhang Ting founded "TST Court Secret", and the brand belonged to Shanghai Darway Trading Co., Ltd.
In 2013, when releasing the self-created "TST Live Yeast" skin care brand, Zhang Ting and Lin Ruiyang promoted a very romantic story: Lin Ruiyang discovered the miraculous effect of yeast in France and gave it to his beloved wife Zhang Ting as a "gift of love", after years of science and technology and research, successfully developed the world's only living and living skin care product - TST Ting Secret, "TST" Related publicity is often around Zhang Ting, the "boss lady".
"TST" promotional image
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According to a number of promotional materials from the company's recruitment agents, Lin Chiling is its spokesperson, and Xu Zhengtaohong and His wife and Cao Ge Wu Suling are also its shareholders.
Lin Chiling endorsement poster
Source: Sky Eye Check
"TST" products were initially sold through channels such as WeChat. Later, through Zhang Ting, he mobilized the relationship in the show business circle, invited Celebrities such as Xu Zheng and his wife, who had good personal relations, to stand on the platform and post photos of themselves using the "TST Court Secret" mask on social networks for publicity. In order to attract people to join, Zhang Ting and his wife went around declaring that they were "very rich". For example, when she participated in a variety show, she told the audience that "people who come to my house for the first time will get lost"; she claimed that how many people became rich overnight by being "TST agents". Mr. and Mrs. Zhang Ting often "personally go down" on major social platforms to promote their own products, and will also share some sweet details of life to make their happiness sound more flesh and blood.
Mr. and Mrs. Zhang Ting and Mr. and Mrs. Tao Hong
Under the "star effect", "TST" is on fire.
In 2018, Mr. and Mrs. Zhang Ting announced the tax payment quota of their direct selling company, Shanghai Darway Trading Co., Ltd., and the tax payment amount of up to 2.1 billion yuan caused heated discussion. In the same year, the news that "Zhang Ting rewarded employees with the highest ten-month year-end award at the company's annual meeting" made headlines in various entertainment news.
"A number of high-profile celebrities stand on the platform", "the company is large", "the boss is generous", "can make a lot of money" has gradually become the label of "TST" in the eyes of the public. This will be followed by more admiring consumers and people who want to get involved in "a piece of the pie". According to relevant media reports, from January 1, 2018 to July 2021, "TST" has developed a total of 7.07 million members.
"Smile Goddess" Zhang Ting transformed into "Micro-Business Queen".
The quality of the "TST" product has been questioned, and the business model involves marketing
Zhang Ting and Lin Ruiyang's "TST" business empire is on the surface of the scenery, but behind the surface gloss, more and more problems are beginning to be exposed.
First of all, many consumers reported that after using "TST" products, the skin on the face appeared rough, peeling, and even ulcerated. In the face of a succession of complaints and feedback, the "TST" official chose a perfunctory response, saying that "this is a manifestation of detoxification". Zhang Ting also said on Weibo that each user's skin type is different and has different reactions to cosmetics. It means that the TST product is in accordance with the law and the three certificates are complete, and a professional third-party inspection and quarantine agency is invited to do health and safety tests. However, such an explanation is obviously not convincing to everyone.
Many people began to suspect that the culprit causing skin problems was the biggest selling point of "TST" products - "live yeast". In the product promotion of the merchant, it is said that the ingredient has a variety of benefits for the skin, but some insiders pointed out that the products advertised by "TST" contain "live yeast", which is not in line with the "Cosmetic Safety Technical Specifications": if the "TST" product really contains "live yeast", it cannot pass the quality inspection; if it does not, it involves false publicity. In order to find out, someone took Zhang Tingjia's product to do the test, and the test result was that there was no live yeast at all.
Such a price of hundreds of yuan, flaunting the only "high-end product" on the market containing "live yeast" is actually false propaganda. Not only that, after insiders broke the news, most of the products of "TST" are actually produced by the foundry, and the cost price is only 2 to 30 yuan.
In addition to product problems, "TST" was also found to be suspected of pyramid schemes in its business model.
In the "TST" company has a set of reward system called "Red Card Bonus System", from the "TST" external publicity, the system is mainly based on "individual sales performance" and "team sales performance" to issue bonuses.
Infographic: "TST" recruitment agent promotional chart
However, an agent who joined "TST" explained to the media reporter the real development model of TST's internal sales staff: "After purchasing 2500 yuan of products, pull people's heads to have a commission, and in order to make money, you need to continuously develop the "downline"; spend 300,000 yuan to become the "chairman", form your own team and family, and earn the money of "children and grandchildren"; the monthly sales performance of the "chairman" of 250,000 yuan mainly relies on the "downline" hoarding, fission, and hoarding of goods. ”
According to the agent's account, the business model of "TST" company "pulling down the line" and "relying on its own hoarding" is undoubtedly in line with the characteristics of MLM.
The truth has gradually become clear
According to the surging news, in September 2021, an administrative penalty decision of the Baokang County Market Supervision Bureau in Hubei Province showed that the bonus system implemented by Shanghai Dalvy Trading Co., Ltd. (TST Court Secret) against red card members was judged to be a pyramid scheme. The reason is that this bonus system requires the development of other personnel to join, form a relationship between the upper and lower lines, and calculate and pay the online on the basis of offline sales performance, which is the situation referred to in the relevant provisions of the "Prohibition of Pyramid Scheme Regulations" and is a pyramid scheme. It was determined that Darway Company was the initiator, organizer, planner and manager of the pyramid scheme act, which constituted the illegal act of organizing and planning the pyramid scheme. In the end, Shanghai Darway Trading Co., Ltd. was confiscated 19.28 million yuan of illegal gains and fined 1.7 million yuan. The penalty decision separately states that the conduct of Dalway Company shall not be treated as a crime.
On December 28, 2021, the Shijiazhuang Yuhua District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau publicly disclosed through the "Reply to the Verification Letter" that Shanghai Darway (TST Court Secret) was investigated and punished for using financial institutions to transfer or conceal funds involved in pyramid schemes, and the frozen funds of property preservation reached 600 million yuan.
Infographic: Related reports
The next morning, the Shijiazhuang Yuhua District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau reported the investigation of Shanghai Darway Trading Co., Ltd.: The Shijiazhuang Yuhua District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau filed an investigation into Shanghai Darway Trading Co., Ltd. on June 5, 2021 for suspected pyramid schemes. Since 2013, this MLM organization has spanned a long time, there are many people involved in the case in the jurisdiction, and the amount involved is relatively large, and the case has entered the financial audit stage.
On April 19, 2022, some media reported the new progress of the incident of "Zhang Ting and Lin Ruiyang's company involved in pyramid schemes", and 96 properties under the name of Shanghai Darway Trading Co., Ltd. of Zhang Ting and his wife were seized, including the "TST Court Secret" headquarters at No. 28 Jiangyao Road, which Lin Ruiyang used to show off that "only two buildings in the entire Qiantan were sold, one of which was sold to us TST".
At present, the relevant departments said that the MLM case of Darway Company is still under further investigation.
Source: China Business Network
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