First Son-in-Law Chao Chien-ming Convicted of Taiwan Land Development Insider Trading; Sentenced to 3 Years and 8 Months by Supreme Court

On October 14, 2021, the Supreme Court of the Republic of China delivered the final verdict on the 'Taiwan Land Development (Taikai) Insider Trading' case, which had dragged on for 16 years. The court dismissed the appeals, finalizing a sentence of three years and eight months in prison for Chao Chien-ming, the son-in-law of former President Chen Shui-bian, and a four-year prison sentence for his father, Chao Yu-chu. The case traces back to 2005, when Chao Chien-ming, then the nation's First Son-in-law and a physician at National Taiwan University Hospital, attended an exclusive gathering at the Mitsui Japanese Restaurant in Taipei (known as the 'Mitsui Feast'). During the dinner, Chao obtained confidential, inside information from Taikai Chairman Su Teh-chien regarding an upcoming syndicated loan for the company. Chao and his father subsequently used nominees' names to purchase large volumes of low-priced Taikai stock and profited tens of millions of NT dollars when stock prices surged. Due to disputes over calculating crime proceeds and relevant laws, the case went through numerous retrials in the High Court, dragging on for 16 years and heavily draining public judicial resources. Ultimately, the Supreme Court ruled that Chao's exploitation of nepotistic privileges and the presidential family's political prestige to manipulate the capital market and prey on ordinary investors was verified. Following the final verdict, Chao was officially imprisoned on October 27 of the same year to serve his sentence. The scandal severely tarnished the clean image of the Democratic Progressive Party's administration and stands as a hallmark case of elite insider trading in the financial history of the Republic of China.