In a surprising turn of events, a Hong Kong-based insurance broker, Calvin Lo, attempted to pad his resume in an audacious bid to be included on the Forbes Billionaires list. Lo made extravagant claims of being a stakeholder in a Formula 1 racing team, possessing a $250 million Champagne collection, and owning a luxurious five-star resort hotel, alongside his already impressive collection of luxury homes scattered across the globe. He even went as far as falsely proclaiming himself as a Harvard Business School graduate. However, Forbes recently conducted an extensive investigation and discovered that Lo’s claims were far from the truth.
Lo relentlessly promoted himself as a mogul with a net worth in the billions, despite his family fortune being estimated at less than $200 million combined, according to Forbes. As part of his elaborate campaign to secure a spot on the prestigious billionaire list, Lo presented himself as the CEO and owner of R.E. Lee International, supposedly the world’s largest life insurance broker with $1 billion in premiums. Additionally, he claimed to be the founder of R.E. Lee Capital, an asset manager with $8 to $10 billion in assets. Lo boasted to Forbes that he was renowned as Asia’s largest champagne collector and investor, and even asserted that he was one of the initial owners of a Gulfstream G650 private jet in Asia.
However, Forbes carefully scrutinized Lo’s financial statements and his alleged purchase of the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Taipei for $1.2 billion in 2018. Lo claimed to have acquired the hotel through his private investment entity, R.E. Lee Octagon. Intriguingly, Forbes discovered no evidence supporting the existence of R.E. Lee Octagon in any registered entity databases, including those in Hong Kong, Singapore, the British Virgin Islands, and the Cayman Islands. Instead, they found a one-page website with a solitary email address, which has since been taken down. Contrary to his exaggerated wealth claims, Lo’s family is reported to be worth less than $200 million, nowhere near the $1 billion he had professed.
Lo’s assertion of attending Harvard Business School also failed to hold up, as there are no records confirming his enrollment at the prestigious institution. Moreover, while he initially stated he owned properties in Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, London, Vancouver, and Los Angeles, Lo later revised the number to five properties. He provided addresses for four homes in Hong Kong and one in Singapore. However, Forbes investigations into public records revealed that two of the properties were registered under his parents’ names, while the others belonged to unrelated individuals.
Although Forbes did confirm the existence of R.E. Lee Capital, they discovered that Lo’s mother, Regina Lee, serves as the chairwoman and stated that her involvement should not be misconstrued as Lo being associated with the company. Furthermore, R.E. Lee Capital clarified to Forbes that it does not possess anywhere near the claimed $8 to $10 billion in assets. Meanwhile, while Lo boasted of R.E. Lee International’s brokerage of $1 billion in insurance sales, Forbes estimated the company’s actual worth to be around $60 million. Surprisingly, the ownership of the company remains unclear, as it was purchased by Lo’s mother in 2015.
Despite Lo’s apparent deception, his mother, Regina Lee, and her husband, Francis Lo, do own at least two opulent apartments in an upscale area of Hong Kong, a condominium in Vancouver, and an office building housing the insurance company. However, the Forbes investigation unequivocally suggests that the family’s wealth is significantly lower than Lo’s extravagant claims.
In response to these revelations, a law firm representing Calvin Lo vehemently denied any insinuation of dishonesty, untruthfulness, or unethical behavior on his part, as reported by Forbes.
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