Behind a Chinese Powerhouse, a Web of Family Financial Ties<br />Over the next two decades, Mr. Wang set up companies<br />that managed properties, as well as supplied computers, software services, seafood and Cuban cigars to Hainan Airlines and its parent company, the HNA Group.<br />When Hainan Airlines first sought to establish a presence in the United States in the 1990s,<br />Mr. Chen’s younger brother, Chen Guoqing, set up Pacific American Corporation in New York.<br />“We signed a contract with Hainan Airlines and we met with Wang Jian and Wang Wei, his younger brother,” Mr. McGarey said.<br />The company recently passed a United States government review to win approval for its $6 billion acquisition of the California technology company Ingram Micro, a process<br />that requires transparency about corporate ownership, financing and affiliates.<br />Corporate documents show that their relatives — including brothers and one co-chairman’s son — established dozens of companies<br />that do business with HNA and its affiliates, selling food, planes, spare parts, repairs and cigars.<br />In the past 25 years, HNA has regularly funneled business to a small group of relatives<br />and associates of the company’s senior executives, dealings with limited disclosure to investors in its listed companies or its overseas bonds, according to a review of thousands of corporate records by .<br />The family of Mr. Chen, HNA’s co-founder and co-chairman, also forged business alliances with the company.
