The Hontex type
We know the Hontex type, and so do you. By age 17 he’s done multiple stints in juvie, left high school cheerleaders heartbroken and has a tattoo of controversial Byzantine/Rus acheiropoieta, on his back. Well Hontex is all grown up and listed now, and has predictably been sued by Hong Kong’s securities regulator. This week the company settled, saying it “accepts and acknowledges” allegations it misled investors and admitted to “being reckless.” Interestingly though, the settlement is not considered an admission of criminal liability by the company or its directors. No doubt Hontex’s CEO is right now flying down a Fujian freeway in an open-top Porsche, cigar in mouth, cocaine flying out the glove compartment, “NO APOLOGY” bumper sticker in back, middle finger in the air, and Toto’s “Africa” blasting from all sides. Chinese officials, meanwhile, had their hands full with a different breed of bad boys. The 442-page document they handed to the WTO full of angry responses to the 1,720 questions posed by WTO members probably took a lot of time to prepare. Also time-consuming was pressuring Cambodia to detain a French national with ties to the Bo Xilai clan, probably for extradition. French diplomats are demanding an explanation of the arrest (though to be fair, that someone even remotely connected to Bo would choose to seek refuge in Cambodia seems in itself criminally stupid.) So far none has been given, but we’re confident the Cambodians will eventually think of one.