Founder of Yingke Law Firm, Mei Xiangrong, accused of "explosive" financing guarantees. The company responds: It is an issue caused by a family-owned company. Has resigned from all positions.

On March 11, there were reports claiming that “Yingke Law Firm’s owner faced a financial guarantee collapse.” The details include that Mei Xiangrong, Party Secretary, Director, and Global Board Chairman of Yingke Law Firm, used “lawyer fees for financing and also provided guarantees,” involving over 4 billion yuan.

On March 12, Yingke Law Firm issued a statement regarding the online rumors about Mr. Mei Xiangrong: Mr. Mei has resigned from all positions at the firm. The incident was caused by issues related to his family’s company, and has no connection to the firm’s professional activities.

The statement also said that the firm’s operations are proceeding normally and in an orderly manner, and that it will disclose compliant information in a timely manner according to laws and regulations, accepting supervision from society and the industry.

Regulatory authorities have intervened

According to The Paper, an informed source said that Mei Xiangrong has turned himself in to the police, but the amount of involved funds is uncertain. The Beijing Judicial Bureau and Beijing Lawyers Association have already entered Yingke Law Firm in Beijing.

Another unnamed lawyer confirmed, “The situation is real.”

“Yingke has expanded rapidly in recent years, with a surge in the number of lawyers, which naturally means a mix of good and bad. The firm has a lot of money on its books. For example, with more lawyers, renting workstations costs money; some lawyers often wait until the end of the year to withdraw their funds, and some have hundreds of thousands or millions in agency fees on Yingke’s books; also, unlike other law firms, Yingke previously issued equity to lawyers, about ten thousand yuan per share, with annual dividends. All these funds have also facilitated old Mei,” the lawyer told reporters.

According to 21st Century Business Herald, a relevant person confirmed that the involved entity in this incident is Shanghai Yingke Enterprise Management Co., Ltd. From the shareholding structure, this company has no connection to Yingke Law Firm. The financing was a family-level commercial activity of Mei Xiangrong. Additionally, a source quoted in the report said that Yingke’s Global Board has reviewed the financing agreement signed by Mei Xiangrong, which amounts to 1 billion yuan, not the 4 billion yuan rumored online. This 1 billion yuan does not involve Yingke Law Firm’s assets as collateral, but there may be a risk of using Yingke’s reputation to gain trust.

Board of Directors urgently re-elected

On March 11, Yingke Law Firm’s official account “Yingke Legal Microcosm” quietly announced personnel changes. The article mentioned that on March 10, after careful voting and counting, the new Chair of Yingke’s Global Board was elected: Li Jingwu.

This personnel change also means that Mei Xiangrong no longer serves as Chair of Yingke’s Global Board.

The article about the global board meeting shows attendees including founder and honorary director Hao Huizhen, vice directors Zheng Shuchun and Li Hua, Yingke Global Board Chair and China Executive Director Li Jingwu, as well as other board members, headquarters management, regional executive directors, and regional committee directors. Mei Xiangrong was not present.

Hao Huizhen’s closing speech mentioned that rule of law has become a national strategy. As an important force in building the rule of law, the legal profession must operate in compliance, which is not only the bottom line for survival and development but also a necessary obligation to uphold social fairness and justice. All lawyers should further raise political awareness, focus on problem-solving, improve long-term mechanisms, and promote normalized and institutionalized compliance practice. Each branch should establish and improve long-term rectification and compliance management mechanisms to achieve regular, institutionalized, and standardized compliance, laying a solid institutional foundation for high-quality development.

Yingke Law Firm is a global legal service organization founded in 2001, headquartered in Beijing, China. It is a co-founder of the United Nations South-South Cooperation Global Think Tank Network. Since 2022, it has ranked first in the Global 200 list of law firms by number of lawyers. Its official website states that Yingke has over 25,200 employees nationwide.

Mei Xiangrong is a founder of Yingke Law Firm, born in Taizhou, Jiangsu Province, in 1972. He graduated in 1995 from Tsinghua University’s Department of Automotive Engineering with a Bachelor of Engineering, and holds an EMBA from Peking University Guanghua School of Management.

Currently, Mei Xiangrong’s personal resume information can no longer be found on Yingke Law Firm’s official website.

Company organizational change: from general partnership to special general partnership

Additionally, The Paper noted that on March 2, 2026, the Beijing Judicial Bureau approved Yingke Law Firm’s change of organizational form from a general partnership to a special general partnership.

The Paper’s review of the “Partnership Enterprise Law of the People’s Republic of China” shows that in a general partnership, all partners are jointly and severally liable for all debts of the enterprise. In a special general partnership, if one or more partners cause the enterprise’s debts through intentional acts or gross negligence during professional activities, they shall bear unlimited or joint and several liability, while other partners are liable only up to their share of the partnership’s assets.