Chris Ellis – Fake Lawyer, Fake Interviewer?
By Rhodo Zeb. Filed in Uncategorized |Tags: china.economy, china.life
Some days, its great to have a blog. Even if you ignore it sometimes, just like everyone else.
China Law Blog is one of the spots I check out most days, although Dan doesn’t post at a very high frequency. Its just Dan and his partner, Steve blogging, so they should not be compared to a group blog in terms of output.
And what do I see today, but a post that should be titled “Feces Hitting Fan”. Just kidding, Dan is a fairly conservative guy. He would never use language like that on his blog. Or in person, probably.
I have long known about a person by name of Chris Devonshire-Ellis, although I have never met him. And I never was aware that he claimed to be a lawyer in the first place. His company is just a consulting firm, helping foreign companies enter the China market. That’s all I ever knew about him, although I do recall some rumors (certainly unfounded) involving ladies from Mongolia with which CDE (as he is now, apparently, universally known) was supposedly infatuated.
So it was with a great deal of interest that I found info online indicating that Chris Ellis was falsely claiming to be an lawyer. In all honesty, I just read this post (and others with similar content) very recently, and I have been eager to get the chance to write about it.
I want to be careful about one thing, though. Stating that you are a partner, or taking about your firm, are both highly ambiguous phrases. It is true that lawyers use these phrases, but it is also true that private partnerships have ‘partners’, and that ‘firm’ is a perfectly acceptable term for a company, even a manufacturing company.
So it does appear that CDE has not been completely overt in his impersonation of a lawyer, which may be be the only subtle thing about him. However, the charge that he claims to be a lawyer is true: from his linkedin page:
Chris Devonshire-Ellis’s Specialties:Specializes in Foreign Direct Investment into China, India, Vietnam and Emerging Asia, including legal and tax implications, regional development and socio-political and cultural impact in the region and on Western economies[...][and, under experience]General Manager, Hong Kong
Mossack Fonseca & Co.
(Public Company; 201-500 employees; Legal Services industry)
April 1991 — September 1992 (1 year 6 months)
Overseeing business development and corporate legal structuring of offshore incorporations in most international offshore jurisdictions and tax havens, based from Hong Kong, for worlds largest law firm specializing in the field.
If that is not perfectly clear, an explanation from me is not going to help. He is claiming to be a lawyer, clear as day.
FOARP, bless his heart, has been all over this, and has been one of the few to stand up to intertube bullying. Good on you, FOARP. Bully! Bully! Sorry, my inner Teddy Roosevelt got the best of me.
Now, I didn’t just fall off the turnip truck, (they were white carrots, I am telling you, or maybe parsnips), and I am well aware of how someone like this operates. On the one side, you have foreign companies that want to enter the China market, but are afraid, and need a little hand-holding. It is very hard for them to trust Chinese advisors, who often lack the cultural knowledge to put clients at ease. On the other side, you have those adept at extremely aggressive marketing, which is just spam to many, but is backed up by fancy websites and eventually by confident, capable-seeming foreign professionals. Sure, they are a little more expensive then the local competition, but many foreign companies simply feel more comfortable working with them. Where these two meet, someone is making nice money.
If you saw the back-end, well you would probably find a few young Chinese, likely poorly paid and poorly trained (if at all), perhaps even without the qualifications they need to do the work. Or, in another configuration, a Chinese company that does all the real work for a quarter of the price.
Anyway I have once again almost derailed my post. CDE has published a piece on his site that purports to be an interview with a high level official of the CBRC (China Banking Regulatory Commission). Unfortunately, it seems to have been made up out of whole cloth. The CBRC has denied the interview even took place.
There are a number of reasons why the CBRC statement is highly believable. First, given the extremely sensitive nature of the Commission’s work, any media wishing to conduct interviews are going to be vetted carefully. The questions are likely required to be delivered in advance, and the answers are probably also prepared in advance. In addition, CDE is not even part of a media organization, so it would seem impossible that he could get permission to conduct such an interview.
China Briefing is backtracking furiously, and the post is now gone, although it took them until late afternoon to do that. Little slow on the uptake, there.
Luckily, I found a copy of it somewhere, which is available below.
interview-of-a-lifetime
interview-of-a-lifetime
Of course, CDE could clear up all this confusion. First, he could simply prove that he is a lawyer, that is usually easy enough. In the U.S. we have lawyer search engines that will tell you whether a person is licensed or not. I am quite sure the U.K. has similar services. Then, he could provide evidence that the interview did in fact take place. I, for one, will gladly remove this post upon receipt of these documents.
So who is going to stake out the Beijing Airport tonight?
[Update: It appears from this site that the version of the posting from China Briefing that I have provided above is not the original but an edited version:
In a China Briefing story Wednesday, China Banking Regulatory Commission Chairman Liu Mingkang was quoted as saying the yuan may weaken to around CNY6.9-CNY7.0 against the U.S. dollar.The CBRC denied its chairman had been interviewed by China Briefing.
Later Wednesday, China Briefing issued a clarification on its Web site, backing away from attributing specific dollar-yuan levels to any government officials.
(Emphasis mine)
In my view, the document is still of value, as currently the entire posting has been removed. For this reason, as a public service, I will continue to host it here.]
Thursday, February 19th 2009 at 22:27 |
Thank you very much for using some of your web space to describe this person. It is mind boggling to read how someone could go that far and that low to make a buck.
Friday, February 20th 2009 at 03:16 |
Cheers for the link, I don’t think there’s anything brave about publishing the demonstrable truth, especially when I did so anonymously. I think most of us suspected that the interviews were fake, but nobody could prove that they were so we all kept our mouths shut. I hope Chris is not in China and hasn’t been involved in dealing RMB even incidentally, otherwise he could be a world of hurt.
Friday, February 20th 2009 at 03:40 |
FOARP:
Ok, glad you got the link, and thanks for the comment. I am a bit new to this, and noticed that my link didn’t seem to show up with the others on your post. If I need to do something to make the link properly, please do let me know.
As I sort of explained, I was aware of CDE a long time ago, but never paid much attention until now. However, having spent quite a bit of money and mental energy on obtaining, sorry earning a law degree and license, I take a bit of offense at someone trying to enjoy the benefits without going through the same rather painful process.
It is true that anonymity makes it easier to speak boldly, I admit. Still, you have done a great service to others in the community, many of whom have been subjected to threats that they were unable to evaluate properly, and that must have caused some amount of anxiety. My post was perhaps a bit bolder than it might have been because of this situation. I like a good fight and was willing to try and get out in front of the pack, but I had the benefit of knowing that there is safety in numbers, and that CDE’s lawyers, should they exist, have much bigger problems now. Without your work, I may not have been willing to go as far as I did, and indeed may not have been aware that CDE was faking his credentials.
You should be commended for your aggressiveness and fortitude, resilience and commitment, and a whole lot of other positive adjectives! Thank you!
Friday, February 20th 2009 at 06:51 |
I join with you in thanking FOARP for keeping these issues front and center. I, along with Silicon Hutong, Lost Loawai, and China Esquire (all fine blogs, BTW) all backed down in the face of relentless threats and/or hassles from Chris Devonshire-Ellis. I think it fair to say that none of us wanted to take down the posts/comments, none of us thought we needed to do so under any laws, but all of us chose to do so simply because we all have businesses to run and we did not want to get bogged down in having to deal with the issues related to keeping them up.
Friday, February 20th 2009 at 11:32 |
Thanks for the comment, Dan.
At some point last night, I really started to feel sorry for CDE, as we all watched the slow-motion train wreck that is/was his career in China.
However, it was when I was replying to FOARP that I realized the man has really hurt a lot of people. For professionals like you, China Esquire and Silicon Hutong, the threats were certainly more of an irritation than anything else, but for others, I am sure these empty threats did cause considerable worry, when CDE was threating that people would lose their business licenses or be denied visas.
We here on the Mainland are all aware that everything we have built could be stripped from us at a moment’s notice. As foreigners (and in a country without clearly-defined individual rights and protections) we are extremely vulnerable. We are fortunate that today’s social systems are as stable and fair as they are. To attack someone on that level, especially some of these younger guys (and gals), is quite pitiful and shameful.
So I no longer have any sympathy. The man was a bully, and tried to protect his own house of cards by scaring everyone, even when it was completely unnecessary. Good riddance.
Oh and as an aside, thanks for the heads up about some other good China-related blogs, I will update the blogroll. I have not been paying close attention to the China-focused blogs for a couple years now, which needs to change. I have missed a lot already.
Friday, February 20th 2009 at 20:49 |
No need to feel sorry for him. He should stay quiet until the storm passes and then make a fresh and civilized start to repair the damage he caused. He should be happy no trading businesses with long term RMB vs USD commodities contracts that were closed on the day of the publication have sued him…..yet. Very easy for them to prove their losses.
Saturday, February 21st 2009 at 22:08 |
Hi Laurentius:
Thanks for stopping by and providing your thoughts. The feeling of pity passed quickly, I assure you.
I do wonder what his real options are now. Personally I don’t think the likelihood of a civil suit is very high, and found the discussion over at China Law Blog to be a bit theoretical, albeit interesting. Yes, a suit could be pursued, but in addition to the difficulties of acquiring sufficient evidence, one must consider whether losses would be sizable enough to warrant bringing suit, then you have the uncertainty of the trial court’s decision, the length of time it will take, especially if an appeal is made, then you have the possibility that a favorable judgment would be uncollectable.
You are right that his best chance to weather this storm and preserve his position and company is to lie low (pun intended) and then, in a perfect world, turn over a new leaf and continue his business in a professional and honest manner. However, considering he has been living a lie for years, decades even, claiming to be something he is not, I would not expect much on that front.
I will certainly be exploring his options and position in a future post, and please feel free to provide more of your thoughts, if you would like.
Sunday, February 22nd 2009 at 23:35 |
This is so funny. For years I had heard all his interviews were faked. That he would just go to big events, get his picture taken with a government official, and then write an “interview.” Your article seems to confirm that. Fake lawyer? Check. Fake accountant? Check. Fake College Degree? Check. What is real about him? Seriously?
Wednesday, February 25th 2009 at 19:57 |
Warning: The following posting might be dangerous to your health, please consult your doctor before opening the link
http://parkerfairfield.com/blog/index.php?blog=2&title=karma_hard_to_escape_eh_chris&page=1&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1&disp=single
Quote: “Finally, my Christmas present was revealed here (resignation) – karmic retribution would have been a block of shite from an airplane strikes him dead in the street … but I’ll take this.”
I am going to sue Parker for this. I had to laugh so hard, I almost died.