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Edelman execs on leave after China graft probe

Rui Chenggang

Rui Chenggang

Two members of the China leadership team of PR agency Edelman are on leave, sources are telling The Holmes Report, as the firm carries out an investigation into its relationship with state broadcaster CCTV and Rui Chenggang, a former associate and prominent TV anchor, who was detained by the government in a corruption probe last year.

Rui’s detainment was followed by the disappearance of Daniel J. Edelman China Group CEO Stephen Cao, who re-emerged after three months of questioning last October. Cao co-founded Pegasus Communications with Rui in 2002, the agency acquired by Edelman five years later.

The former Asia-Pacific president of Edelman, Alan VanderMolen — now vice-chairman, and based in Chicago — and Asia-Pacific CFO Philip Channon have not returned calls and emails from The Holmes Report. The agency has shrugged it off as an internal matter.

Edelman’s internal investigation is believed to have begun in July last year, the PR industry journal reports.

The investigation followed a government probe that was believed to be over a stake Rui had in Pegasus while he was working for CCTV. Rui did not sell out of Pegasus fully until three years after the acquisition and he’d since moved on to CCTV. During that time services were provided to CCTV by Pegasus.

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