The Jimmy Lai Chronicle : What the Court was Told (6): A Million-Dollar Plot: Buying Access to Taiwan's Leader

Jimmy Lai, founder of Next Media, got nailed on "conspiracy to collude with foreign forces" and other charges. Here's what the court documents and evidence laid bare: Lai had his fingers deep in Taiwan's political and military machinery for years. We're talking about bankrolling retired US military brass and political heavyweights to visit Taiwan, greasing the wheels for then-Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen to decode Trump administration moves on Taiwan policy—all part of a scheme to pump up so-called "US-Taiwan relations."

Monthly TWD 200,000 Payouts

Lai built his media empire in Taiwan back in the early 2000s—Taiwan's Next Magazine, Taiwan's Apple Daily, the whole nine yards. But court records show his Taiwan interests ran way past media operations straight into the political arena. The key player here was Chiang Chun-nam (江春男), a Taiwanese writer and political commentator who worked for both Taiwan's Next Magazine and Taiwan's Apple Daily, keeping tight with Lai the whole time. After Tsai Ing-wen took office as Taiwan leader in 2016, Chiang landed the vice president gig at the General Association of Chinese Culture—basically one of Tsai's "right-hand men."

The judgment spells it out: all of Lai's direct or indirect hookups with Tsai Ing-wen—including setting up multiple meetings between her and former US officials or political operators—went through Chiang. Court documents and an internal Taiwan Apple Daily email dated March 25, 2020, expose the money trail: to keep Chiang Chun-nam in his pocket as the go-between, Lai ordered Taiwan Apple Daily CEO Ip Yut-kin in November 2017 to pay Chiang TWD 209,000 monthly. The stated reason? Chiang was "useful" to Lai or Taiwan Apple Daily somehow, but only Lai knew exactly what that usefulness meant.

Taiwan Apple Daily editor-in-chief Eric Chen discovered in 2019 that those monthly TWD 209,000 payments to Chiang had been rolling for over a year—yet Chiang hadn't written a single article or done any work for Taiwan Apple Daily during that stretch. Chen asked Lai directly whether the monthly payments to Chiang should keep going. Lai's answer: "Continue the payments."

Lai testified that when he learned in 2020 about the monthly payments to Chiang Chun-nam without any reciprocal services, he immediately told subordinates to cut them off, and claimed he never directed subordinates to keep paying Chiang. However, Lai confirmed that Taiwan Apple Daily made monthly payments of TWD 209,000 to Chiang from November 2017 to March 2020—totaling over TWD 5.8 million (roughly HKD 1.44 million).

Through Chiang Chun-nam , Lai scored multiple private sit-downs with Tsai Ing-wen. Lai claimed in court these meetings were "mainly public relations activities," but the court pointed out that related messages show he was actually using them to push a political agenda. In December 2016, Lai sent a WhatsApp message to Chiang that flat-out revealed his take on US-China-Taiwan dynamics. He wrote: "Now is the time to break through China... The US appears to be planning to use Taiwan as leverage to counter China's provocations in North Korea and the South China Sea." He also mentioned "US military forces might relocate from Japan to Taiwan" and declared "China doesn't want war; now is the opportunity."

The judge noted that the content above shows Lai wasn't just commenting on the situation—he was actively pushing for the US to use Taiwan as a strategic tool to box in China. This viewpoint became the theoretical backbone for his subsequent funding and actions.

Bankrolling Former US Military Leaders 

After learning from Chiang that Tsai Ing-wen wanted the inside scoop on Trump administration Taiwan policy, Lai arranged through Chiang for two heavyweight US military figures—former US Army Vice Chief of Staff Jack Keane and former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz—to travel to Taiwan as advisors.

In January 2017, Lai sent a message to his personal assistant Mark Simon stating: "I dined with the General (Keane) and Paul (Wolfowitz); they will go to Taipei to execute a project linking with Trump... Must maintain strict confidentiality—any media exposure will completely destroy everything." This shows Lai was running the whole operation from the start.

Lai confirmed in court that the two-year consulting fee for both came to USD 3 million.  The judgment revealed that in July 2018, Lai asked Mark Simon about details of a Canadian remittance for a "special project." Mark Simon replied: "USD 750,000 per person per year for both, plus USD 250,000 gift for Keane, totaling USD 1.75 million, plus travel reimbursements and miscellaneous expenses totaling HKD 14.9 million."（

The court concluded that after learning the payment details, Lai raised no objections, proving he "fully knew and agreed to the payments." In 2019, Lai again approved remitting USD 850,000 to Canada to cover the second year's consulting fees and travel expenses for both. The judge questioned during trial: "Since they were providing consulting services to the Taiwan government, why wasn't the Taiwan government making the payments?" Lai explained that because the two were his friends, he had requested their help and arranged the itinerary, so he made the payments—stressing that Tsai Ing-wen had no idea he was footing the bill.

Beyond the financial records, communications showed Lai personally ran the itinerary arrangements, requiring that after Keane and Wolfowitz visited Taiwan four times annually, they must "stay in Taiwan for at least three days each time, meeting with the president and her team." He stated "I will personally travel to Taiwan at the end of the itinerary to understand the results." These details make it crystal clear—he wasn't some observer but the funder and orchestrator of the whole operation.  

Bolton Meeting and "US Military in Taiwan" 

Lai's "resisting China by leveraging Taiwan" moves didn't stop at funding consultant hires. In January 2017, Lai met with John Bolton, then a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute who later became White House National Security Advisor. Lai specifically prepared "confidential" notes for the meeting, sending them to Chiang Chun-nam the day before with instructions to destroy them after reading. The content got straight to the point: "Without US military stationed in Taiwan, Taiwan will fall into turmoil; with US military stationed in Taiwan, it can serve as America's Asia-Pacific strategic leverage, ensuring peace across the strait."

Ten days later, Bolton published an article in US media pushing the line that "the US should increase military sales to Taiwan and again deploy military personnel and assets in Taiwan." The content tracked remarkably close to Lai's memorandum.

Looking at all this evidence together, here's the picture: Lai used connections and cash to bankroll visits by high-level US military officials to Taiwan under the "consultant" label, but the real game was pushing US-Taiwan military-political connections through "diplomatic advice." He personally met with US political operators to sell the "US military stationed in Taiwan" concept, attempting to build a back-channel between Washington and Taipei.

Law ABC

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Jimmy Lai, founder of Next Digital, was convicted of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces. The judgment and court documents show exactly what that looked like: years of contact with anti-China figures in the UK, donations to Hong Kong Watch funneled through his assistant Mark Simon, and repeated efforts to amplify the British parliamentary group IPAC—the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China.

Money to Build Network

Court documents identify Benedict Rogers, founder of Hong Kong Watch, as a central figure in Lai's "UK network." Lai testified he first met Rogers after Hong Kong denied him entry in 2017. After that, Rogers contacted Lai directly when he wanted to publish opinion pieces in Apple Daily. Lai made multiple donations to Rogers' organization through Mark Simon, including one payment of £20,000.

Lai told the court he noticed British society paid less attention to Hong Kong issues than America did. Rogers' activities, he said, could help more people in the UK understand Hong Kong's situation. He also pointed out Rogers had deep ties to British political circles, including Lord Alton of the House of Lords and Chris Patten, the last British Governor of Hong Kong.

Lai claimed repeatedly during trial that he had "never heard of" IPAC. The prosecution's electronic communication records tell a different story. Lai not only knew about the organization before it launched—he actively promoted it and stayed in frequent contact with its core members.

On May 31, 2020, Rogers messaged Lai to tell him his friend Luke de Pulford was organizing the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, with Rogers himself participating as an advisor. Rogers said de Pulford hoped to connect with Lai and asked if he could pass along Lai's phone number. Lai immediately agreed.

The next day, de Pulford sent Lai an introductory document about IPAC. On June 3, he forwarded another document titled "Press Release: Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC)" to Lai, announcing IPAC's official establishment with members from nine national parliaments. The stated goal: urging governments to adopt tougher policies toward China.

Publishing on Command

When Lai received the press release, he immediately forwarded it to Apple Daily's Associate Publisher Chan Pui-man with instructions to "handle the story" and a note: "publish it in tomorrow's paper." That same day, he told Chan that de Pulford would send photos to accompany the news.

On June 5, 2020, Apple Daily ran the story with the headline "Nine Parliaments Form Alliance to Strongly Resist CCP, Condemning Forced Implementation of Hong Kong National Security Law as Trampling Human Rights." The article included a photo of de Pulford and former Civic Party Chairman Alan Leong.

The judgment noted Apple Daily published multiple reports about IPAC between June and October of that year. On June 13, the newspaper ran a story on page A5 about Italian and Dutch lawmakers joining IPAC. On June 15, a column titled "Ears by the Wall" published a piece called "Laam Chau Ba Joins International Coalition to Resist," noting that "Laam Chau Ba has launched wave after wave of actions, such as crowdfunding global newspaper ads... Recently Laam Chau Ba had good news – the Laam Chau team officially joined IPAC, formed by lawmakers from multiple countries."

The judgment also mentioned de Pulford and Lai were not strangers. As early as October 2019, Lai had forwarded to Mark Simon a message from Rogers about de Pulford and Lord Alton's visit to Taiwan, providing de Pulford's phone number. Lai also dined with de Pulford in Hong Kong in November 2019, when Lord Alton visited Hong Kong under the pretext of "observing the District Council elections."

In March 2020, Lai forwarded an article co-written by Rogers and de Pulford to Chan Pui-man and Chief Editor Ryan Law Wai-kwong with the instruction to "see if we can help them out." Before the Taipei conference in January, Lai forwarded de Pulford's open letter to a friend, describing it as "a brilliant open letter."

On June 11, de Pulford sent Lai another IPAC press release stating that "within one week of the organization's establishment, membership had grown to over a hundred lawmakers from thirteen countries." Lai forwarded the document to Law Wai-kwong the next day with a note: "This is from de Pulford, see if it's useful." On June 13, he posted on his personal Twitter praising the effort: "Delighted to see lawmakers from various countries transcending political positions to jointly face the global challenge of the CCP."

Lai repeatedly forwarded IPAC-related information after that, including Twitter links and press releases. On July 22, de Pulford told him: "We need to arrange meetings between Nathan Law and European heads of state." Lai replied: "Excellent! This will give him greater international credibility."

After the National Security Law

In early August, de Pulford informed Lai he and Nathan Law would file a private prosecution against Hong Kong police officers in the UK, hoping Apple Daily could cover it. Lai replied expressing gratitude for the support. The following day, he received another IPAC press release and forwarded it to Chan and Law, noting: "This is from de Pulford, please decide whether to use it."

The court found these records clearly showed Lai maintained long-term contact with de Pulford and repeatedly helped promote IPAC activities. His claims of "not knowing" were completely untenable.

After the Hong Kong National Security Law took effect, IPAC members pushed for sanctions against then-Chief Executive Carrie Lam and other officials in the British Parliament. De Pulford informed Lai before the action and received a supportive response. Lai also shared related posts on social media.

On October 24, 2020, Apple Daily published an exclusive interview revealing that "Laam Chau Brother's" real identity was Finn Lau. In the interview, Lau discussed his overseas advocacy work for the "Laam Chau Team" and "Stand with Hong Kong (SWHK)."

That same day, Lai posted on his personal Twitter noting that Lau was only 26 years old but had wisdom and could accurately judge when and what role to play. He said Lau's previous role had inspired his peers, and this time he would do the same. International support was very important, Lai stated. He believed Lau had wisdom, had joined an international coalition, and knew when to play the right role. 

These actions showed Lai continued actively participating in activities promoting sanctions against the SAR Government even after the Hong Kong National Security Law took effect. 

During trial, when the judge asked Lai why he didn't block de Pulford, Lai answered: "Because he's doing good things for Hong Kong." The judge commented that Lai regarded "promoting sanctions against Hong Kong" as a "good thing," demonstrating Lai clearly knew about IPAC's establishment and activities, and actively provided it with a promotional platform.