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Zhang Ting, Lin Ruiyang and his wife made a comeback live broadcast, calling for "person-to-person" to spread word-of-mouth, and were banned twice

Zhang Ting, Lin Ruiyang and his wife made a comeback live broadcast, calling for "person-to-person" to spread word-of-mouth, and were banned twice

Editor: He Xiaotao, Li Zedong

According to Blue Whale Finance and Economics, on November 9, Lin Ruiyang and Zhang Ting made a comeback live broadcast, saying in the live broadcast that they would take care of friends and customers, and called on agents to spread good word of mouth through person-to-person transmission. During the live broadcast, the live broadcast room was banned twice, and the live broadcast has been stopped at present.

Zhang Ting, Lin Ruiyang and his wife made a comeback live broadcast, calling for "person-to-person" to spread word-of-mouth, and were banned twice

Not long ago, the "Zhang Ting case" was revoked and the news that 96 properties were unsealed aroused heated public opinion.

On October 26, according to the "Rule of Law Daily, Rule of Law Weekend", the brand "TST Court Secret" founded by Zhang Ting (Zhang Shuqin) and Lin Ruiyang (Lin Jirong) and his wife was frozen due to suspicion of pyramid schemes, and 96 properties under the names of related companies were frozen. A few days ago, the seizure of these 96 properties was lifted.

It is understood that the 96 properties that have been unsealed are located at No. 28 Jiangyao Road, Pudong New Area, Shanghai, which is an entire office building of Jingyao Qiantan T2. This property was purchased by Zhang Ting and his wife in the name of the company in 2020, and it is reported that it cost 1.7 billion, and there has been a huge signboard on the top of the building that reads "TST Court Secret".

Zhang Ting, Lin Ruiyang and his wife made a comeback live broadcast, calling for "person-to-person" to spread word-of-mouth, and were banned twice

The office building where Zhang Ting's 96 properties are located is taken by reporter Liu Songhui

Agent: In the past two years, the goods have been shipped and the rebate distribution is normal

On October 26, Lin Ruiyang posted a video response to the incident, saying that the case was finally over, which was a very positive result.

"We will rediscover our agents around the world, and TST is the best," Lin said. Have you ever thought that there is no problem with our products, and products are the real king. He also said that everyone has been very aggrieved in the past two years, and the eldest brother is very sorry...

Zhang Ting, Lin Ruiyang and his wife made a comeback live broadcast, calling for "person-to-person" to spread word-of-mouth, and were banned twice
Zhang Ting, Lin Ruiyang and his wife made a comeback live broadcast, calling for "person-to-person" to spread word-of-mouth, and were banned twice

According to Blue Whale Finance and Economics, on the afternoon of October 26, a number of agents of "TST Court Secret" forwarded the news that the case was withdrawn to celebrate "Zhaoxue", and there was a live broadcast room to cooperate with the "official announcement news" to release a subsidy activity that was only sold for one day. In the live broadcast room of the official authorized account "TST Court Exclusive Business", an anchor responded to the barrage question, saying, "The past two years have been our trough period, but we have been selling products. Since the company has officially announced it, it means that there is no problem. Feigua data shows that this account with 14,000 fans has brought goods live 1,071 times in the past year, almost non-stop, with a total sales of about 1 million.

It is worth mentioning that when some netizens mentioned the word "pyramid scheme" in the barrage, the administrator would immediately respond that "TST is operating normally, the boss is in Shanghai, and the products are all new dates".

A number of interviewed agents also confirmed to reporters that their work has not stopped in the past two years, and everything is normal for goods delivery and rebate distribution. Among them, the interviewed agent did not reply to the question of "whether product sales are affected by public opinion".

According to the official website of TST, its agent threshold is very low and the franchise is completely free; there is no need to stock up, zero cost investment, and the headquarters can send it with one click. But at the same time, similar to most direct selling systems, TST also has a mature reward system, the higher the affiliate level, the higher the commission.

In addition, according to China.com Finance and Economics, industrial chain products such as "TST Court Secrets" have adopted a multi-level agency system sales model. The "TST Court Secret" model seems to have only two levels of agents, but its rebate level has already exceeded three levels, which is a typical "rebate pyramid scheme" model. A dealer of "TST Court Secret" declared, "As long as there are enough 100 people, the team's performance will reach 100,000 yuan for three consecutive months, and the company will be established, and the performance of children and grandchildren will be related to themselves."

Why the "TST Court Secrets" "Exonerated Crime"

So, how did the "TST Court Secret" "get away with it"?

The National Business Daily reported last year that the relevant people involved in the report of the "TST court secrets" provided every reporter with a copy of the information titled "Baokang County Market Supervision and Administration Bureau's Administrative Punishment Decision" in Hubei Province. The nine-page decision verifies the micro-business model of the TST brand and the team bonus system for developing members, and through 17 pieces of evidence, it is determined that Shanghai Darwin (Shanghai Darwin Trading Co., Ltd., i.e., the operating entity of "TST Court Secret") as the initiator, organization, planning and manager of the pyramid scheme, constitutes an illegal act of organizing and planning pyramid schemes.

From January 1, 2018 to July 2021, Shanghai Darwin has developed more than 7.07 million members, including more than 6.41 million blue card members and more than 650,000 red card members. During the period, the main business income of the red card reached 9.2 billion yuan.

According to Southern Weekly, the administrative penalty was dated September 3, 2021, two years ago, and the "TST Court Secret" had been identified as a pyramid scheme and punished.

According to the relevant laws and regulations of the state, pyramid schemes are divided into two situations, one is a commercial pyramid scheme, and the other is a fraudulent pyramid scheme.

Operational pyramid selling shall be subject to administrative punishment by the market supervision department in accordance with the Regulations on the Prohibition of Pyramid Selling, but it is only an illegal act, and if there is no penalty of revocation of business license, it can continue to operate after accepting the administrative penalty and rectifying compliance.

Fraudulent pyramid schemes, on the other hand, are serious crimes, which are crimes of organizing and leading pyramid schemes in the Criminal Law, and must be prosecuted by the procuratorate. The main difference between the two is whether there are actual business activities.

According to the administrative penalty letter, the "TST Court Secret" is a commercial pyramid scheme, and the identified pyramid scheme occurred from January 1, 2018 to July 2021 by Shanghai Darwin Trading Co., Ltd., and the illegal gains were confiscated and fined, and at the same time, it was required to "make corrections within a time limit".

In accordance with the principle of "no matter in jell s] in the Administrative Punishment Law of the People's Republic of China, it is precisely because Baokang County, Hubei Province, has conducted an investigation into the "TST court secrets" on May 25, 2021, that the Market Supervision Bureau of Yuhua District, Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, which only opened a case for investigation on June 5, 2021, has fallen into passivity.

The Administrative Punishment Law of the People's Republic of China has clear provisions, one is "prior jurisdiction", and the other is "no punishment shall be imposed in one case", and at the same time, the "Circular of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce on Further Investigating and Dealing with Online Pyramid Schemes" also clarifies the jurisdiction of online pyramid selling cases, and the competent authority applies the principle of full case jurisdiction to the case.

Editor|He Xiaotao, Li Zedong, Du Hengfeng

Proofreading|Lu Xiangyong

Daily Economic News, Blue Whale Finance, Southern Weekly, Every APP, China.com Finance, etc

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