[3] Despite his massive empire of wealth, Lai often smuggled goods into China and broke numerous trade laws.
[10] When Lai was age 18, Mao Zedong died and private businesses began re-appearing across China under Deng Xiaoping.
Lai was believed to be the mastermind of a US$10 billion scheme, during which he allegedly bribed high level officials in the administration of the Xiamen Special Economic Zone in order to smuggle luxury cars and entire tanker-loads of oil into the country.
[16] Chinese authorities do not comment on allegations that Lai's Yuanhua group was also a conduit for clandestine military shipments, such as Silkworm missiles.
[19] Lai had his own Forbidden City replica (远华影视城) built with US$20 million that acts as a film production studio.
[23] According to Oliver August's book Inside the Red Mansion, Lai is known to be financially linked with high-ranking Chinese officials and celebrities.
August alleged that singer Dong Wenhua was offered 10 million yuan if she took her clothes off for Lai, who was drunk at the time.
[24] Others include Li Jizhou (李纪周), deputy minister for public security and Xu Ganlu (许甘露), Immigration secretary.
[24][25] Other corrupt officials include Liu Feng (刘丰),[26] Zhuang Rushun (庄如顺),[27] Lan Fu (蓝甫),[28] Yang Qianxian (杨前线),[29] Shi Zhaobin (石兆彬),[29] and Zhao Keming (赵克明).
Lai's corruption of what was said to be literally hundreds of Chinese officials was effected through paying millions of dollars in bribes, by hosting lavish banquets and by giving jobs to relatives of local bureaucrats.
[24] Lai also purportedly gave money to Zhu Niuniu, son of former deputy commander of China's 31st army from Xiamen.
Zhu constantly threatened to expose Lai's smuggling if he did not help him with his financial problem from gambling at the Macau casinos.
[38] Following his detention in Canada, Lai was able to obtain his release, pending the hearing into his refugee claim, by placing himself under house arrest.
He returned to the family's luxury condo in Burnaby, a suburb of Vancouver, and agreed to pay $80,000 per month to live under the guard of a private security firm.
[30][39] Notwithstanding such arrangements, Lai was observed by RCMP officers associating with known members of Asian smuggling gangs in Canada.
In the same corruption case, one of the largest in modern Chinese history, many high-level municipal and provincial officials were sacked and a few were sentenced to life in prison or death.
A special task force operation was created by the government to track down Lai on April 20, 1999, called "4.20" (420专案组) with about 1200 investigators.
Nevertheless, Lai has repeatedly been denied political refugee status in Canada, for example by a ruling in September 2005 by the Supreme Court in Ottawa, Ontario.
Canadian courts did not believe this guarantee, due to certain CPC bias in any trial and as 14 others involved in the complex Xiamen racket have already been executed.
Svend Robinson, then New Democratic Party member of parliament for Burnaby-Douglas, also noted that Lai's brother died in a Fujian labour-camp after receiving a lesser sentence.
Canadian officials acknowledged that Lai did not have access to the vast fortune they thought he had upon arrival in Canada back in 1999.
Lai has said his legal and living expenses were being funded by friends, whom he has declined to identify, saying they could be in danger if the Chinese government knew their names.
[43] On July 8, 2011, John Baird, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada, said that, the extradition of Lai must be conducted using Canadian laws.
[48] Spokesman of the Chinese ministry of foreign affairs has expressed satisfaction concerning this decision, referring to Lai as responsible for the "biggest economic crime in the history of the People's Republic of China.
"[49] On May 18, 2012, Lai Changxing was sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of smuggling and bribery by the Intermediate People's Court in Xiamen.