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Investigation: How An Extravagant Chinese Financier Charmed Hollywood’s Elite Before Vanishing, Owing People Millions
The inside story of how Chinese investor Kenny Huang charmed Hollywood power players like James Gunn, before vanishing, owing people millions.
During a breathless three-year period, THC linked with James Gunn on superhero horror Brightburn, attempted to reboot Vin Diesel ’s xXx franchise, and dried ink on a distribution deal with Sony Pictures. A six-month Deadline investigation has revealed that he left behind a litany of lawsuits; colleagues and investors owed tens of millions of dollars; a messy and unresolved dispute over the xXx franchise; mortgage defaults on a palatial Bel Air house; more than $160,000 in unpaid office rent; and scripts from writers, including John Wick scribe Derek Kolstad, with no clean chain of title. Deadline can reveal that Mikitani’s tech and media giant Rakuten successfully sued THC and Huang for $52M after claiming it was the victim of a “Ponzi scheme” that served to fund the Chinese financier’s lavish taste in supercars and cigars.
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