Recently, the Market Supervision and Administration Bureau of Yuhua District, Shijiazhuang City, in the form of a "Reply to the Verification Letter," publicly disclosed the progress of the investigation and punishment of Dalwei Company, the operator of the well-known daily chemical brand "TST Court Secret" (hereinafter referred to as "TST"), for allegedly using the Internet to engage in pyramid schemes.
In the early morning of December 29, the TST Court secretly issued a response: "Shanghai Dalwei Trading Co., Ltd. is a legally operating company. Since its establishment, it has always followed government guidance, adhered to legal operations, and paid taxes in accordance with the law. We are very grateful to the Hebei Shijiazhuang government for guiding our company to investigate risks. At present, the company's operations are normal, and our company will actively cooperate with relevant departments." Zhang Ting and Lin Ruiyang also forwarded the Weibo response.
Public information shows that Shanghai Dalwei Trading Co., Ltd. has a registered capital of 231.8 million yuan, and its legal representative is Lin Jirong (also known as the well-known actor Lin Ruiyang). The company owns the daily chemical brand "TST Secret", which was founded by Lin Ruiyang and Zhang Ting in 2013. It focuses on cosmetics and skin care products, and sells products mainly through the online mall "Ting Secret APP" and the O2O method of offline physical stores.
As early as June 5 this year, the bureau had launched an investigation into Shanghai Dalwei Trading Co., Ltd.'s alleged pyramid scheme. "Because it used financial institutions to transfer or conceal funds involved in pyramid schemes, the bureau has applied to the People's Court to take preservation measures in accordance with the law. The case is currently under further investigation."
On December 23, Li Xu Anti-MLM, a private anti-MLM association, applied to the Yuhua District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau of Shijiazhuang City for a "Requesting the Yuhua District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau of Shijiazhuang City to verify whether TST is suspected of pyramid schemes and whether to file a case for investigation and verification." On December 24, 2021, Li Xu’s anti-fraud team posted on the WeChat public account that it received a reply from the verification letter from the Yuhua District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau of Shijiazhuang City. Li Xu Anti-MLM said that according to relevant personnel from the Yuhua District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau of Shijiazhuang City, the funds frozen this time were as high as 600 million yuan (frozen in two parts, 300 million yuan for the main company and 300 million yuan for an agent and team leader).
Li Xu Anti-MLM WeChat public account stated that the team began to receive reports from netizens in the first half of this year that TST Court Secret was suspected of pyramid schemes, and published related articles one after another, which were later deleted. The team claimed that they were "deleted by malicious complaints from the company." In August this year, Li Xu Anti-MLM published an article on the public account based on relevant revelations from netizens in response to why TST Court Secret's business model was suspected of pyramid schemes.
On December 29, Jiemian News saw at the company's "TST Secret" headquarters building in Pudong New Area that the building was operating normally and employees had normal access. Employees of the company revealed that everything in the building is currently operating normally. There are also employees downstairs discussing hot topics in their company. Information shows that Zhang Ting bought the building for 1.7 billion yuan in October 2020.
After the reporter expressed his intention to interview, the number of security personnel on site increased, and the original two entrances and exits were quickly changed to one. All personnel must enter and exit with work passes. At noon, security officials said someone would be available to speak to the media and respond. After waiting for an hour, the officer changed his story and said he didn't know who to call to respond.
As of press time, the company has not responded to Jiemian News’ request for an interview.
Zhang Ting's other identity is a Taiwanese actress who entered the entertainment industry by filming commercials. Her husband Lin Ruiyang was in the same industry as her. After marrying Zhang Ting, he quit the entertainment industry and came to mainland China with Zhang Ting to engage in business and establish many companies. Shanghai Dalwei Trading Co., Ltd. is one of them.
Part of their popularity lies not in stardom but in high-profile donations. The first time Zhang Ting and his wife did charity was during the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. At that time, Zhang Ting and his wife mobilized the employees of the company they ran to actively raise 20,000 yuan. At the same time, the couple donated an additional 100,000 yuan to support the disaster area. In the early days of the epidemic, they also donated 20 million yuan to Wuhan.
In 2013, Lin Ruiyang and Zhang Ting founded "TST Secret", and the brand belongs to Shanghai Dalwei Trading Co., Ltd. TST relies on resources from the entertainment industry. Multiple promotional materials from recruitment agencies show that Lin Chiling is its spokesperson, and Xu Zheng, Taohong and his wife, Cao Ge and Wu Suling were also its shareholders. On social networks, half of the entertainment industry stars such as Liu Tao and Zhang Xinyu posted photos of themselves with white facial masks on their faces, and specified that they were using TST products.
Although the "TST Court Secret" trademark was successfully registered in May 2016, the brand's online and offline channel layout had already been launched before. From 2014 to 2018, TST was popular in the micro-business circle and was known as the "first brand of micro-business".
Netizens who broke the news about Li Xu's anti-MLM claims that he was attracted by the celebrity aura to join the "TST Secret" company a few years ago. After working in the company for a few years, he discovered that this micro-business empire built by the celebrity couple Zhang Ting and Lin Ruiyang actually used their influence in the film and television industry, under the banner of celebrity business owners, and ostensibly in the name of "zero threshold, zero risk entrepreneurship". In fact, it relies on the development of downline recruiters and team-based compensation to conduct business activities.
Many agents who join TST also claim that they can earn high income by operating TST products. In 1992, an ordinary office worker earned 290,000 yuan a month, and a mother born in the 1980s earned more than 300,000 yuan a month. All kinds of propaganda are everywhere in TST.
A netizen mentioned that when he first joined, the company said in training that as long as he developed 100 people and achieved monthly sales of RMB 100,000 for three consecutive months with his direct agents, he could set up his own company and become the founder of the company. In this way, if his "descendants (offline)" purchased products, he would be able to get a 2.5%-5% commission, and the company also promised that the founder would be hereditary. As time went by, netizens saw that team members were hoarding a large amount of goods but unable to sell them. In order to develop offline, many people lied about the amount of money they made.
Public data shows that in 2018 alone, Dalwe’s tax payment reached 1.26 billion yuan. In June 2020, Zhang Ting made her live broadcast debut on Douyin. After the live broadcast, a picture of his team's celebration was leaked, which showed that Zhang Ting's first live broadcast performance exceeded 250 million yuan.
According to the Tianyancha App, on September 8, 2021, 9 companies with Zhang Ting (Zhang Shuqin) as the legal representative, executive director and general manager deregistered, including Shanghai Haoguang Biotechnology Co., Ltd., Shanghai Yunfan Enterprise Management Co., Ltd., Shanghai Zhenhai Information Technology Co., Ltd., Shanghai Mingli Enterprise Management Co., Ltd., etc. The reason for cancellation was the resolution to dissolve. These nine companies were all established in 2021, with registered capital of 45 million yuan.
Currently, more than 70 of the companies Zhang Ting works for are in existence or in operation, involving biotechnology, investment management, cultural media and other fields.
