"In an era when business executives are faulted for weak ethics, it seems especially important for all of us to consider any evidence that some have sacrificed their freedom for principles."
- Kathy O'Toole, Editor, Stanford Business Magazine

Help Free an Innocent American

Jude Shao Has Been Paroled!

Jude was awarded parole on July 2nd and will be serving his parole in Shanghai. The Free Jude Shao campaign would like to thank the hundreds of people who fought for his release. Click here (PDF) to read our statement regarding Jude's parole.

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Jude Shao in August 1995

Jude Shao, an American citizen, is unjustly held in Shanghai Qingpu prison after wrongly being convicted for Tax Evasion and falsely issuing VAT invoices. He is serving a 15-year sentence.

Background
Justification for Release
Call to Action!

Background

Jude Shao is a naturalized American citizen who started China Business Ventures (CBV) in 1993. CBV focused on exporting American medical equipment (CAT scans, MRIs, X-rays) to China, and by 1997, had offices in San Francisco and Shanghai with 15 employees.

It All Started When

In July 1997 local Tax Auditors arrived at CBV's Shanghai office and took CBV's accounting records to conduct a special tax audit. Jude was twice solicited for a bribe to stop the investigation, but he refused since he knew that he had done nothing wrong. In April of 1998, Jude was arrested and told by the police that they were asked to "teach him a lesson." He was held incommunicado for the next 26 months.

Trial and Conviction

In June 1999, a trial was held in Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate Court, but Jude was unable to prepare a meaningful defense because he was never able to meet with his attorney, who was only hired 10 days prior to the start of the trial. Neither Jude nor his attorney was able to review the evidence against him. In March 2000, the Court issued a ruling convicting Jude of two tax crimes and sentencing him to 16 years in jail.

New Evidence

Subsequent to his conviction, with the help of friends and the U.S. Consulate, Jude was able to recover CBV accounting records from his San Francisco office. Based on these records Jude was able to develop evidence that conclusively proved his innocence for the crimes for which he had been convicted. Additionally, in April of 2003 six prominent legal scholars at the Center for Research in Criminal Legal Science at China's People's University reviewed the new evidence developed by Jude and the original verdict and concluded that Jude deserved a retrial. Finally, in March of 2004 the Guang Hua Certified Public Accountants in Shanghai audited CBV accounting and banking records and validated the evidence developed by Jude.

Appeals Ignored

Since January 2002 Jude has repeatedly petitioned the Shanghai High Court and the Supreme People's Court with this new evidence and the Expert's Opinion. Yet, the Shanghai High Court three times refused to review the exculpatory evidence, and the Supreme People's Court did not respond to Mr. Shao's petition for review of his case for two and a half years. When the Supreme People's Court did finally respond, they ignored the exculpatory evidence presented and affirmed the lower court decision.

Application for Medical Parole

The effects of over six years of unjust imprisonment have taken their toll and in June of 2004 Jude's family filed an Application for Medical Parole because of a heart condition that cannot be treated by prison doctors. Medical Parole was denied in September 2006.

Eligibility for Parole

Under Chinese law, prisoners in good standing regardless of nationality are eligible for parole after serving half of their sentences. Jude became eligible for parole May 8, 2006, but only received a one-year sentence reduction on his original 16-year sentence in lieu of parole. Jude is now being told by Chinese officials that he cannot be paroled because he is a foreigner, despite meeting all conditions for parole.

Justification for Release

Jude's conviction was based on the following four findings, which could be easily rebutted in an impartial judicial process:

CBV underpaid VAT of about $119,000. However, Jude's accounting records recovered from his San Francisco office show he paid the required amount. Additionally, the Experts Report and the audit by the Guang Hua Certified Public Accountants support that CBV paid the appropriate amount of taxes.

CBV evaded sales taxes owed of $253,000. Obvious and simple errors in the Judicial Accounting Audit Report show this calculation is incorrect and CBV is owed a refund!

Jude "confessed" to the crimes. Jude never made the "confession" and Shanghai police interrogation records have no record of the "confession." Also, Jude's accounting records contradict this "confession."

CBV had never imported medical equipment to China. CBV's accounting and shipping records refute this finding. Additionally, the equipment imported by CBV is still being used in Chinese hospitals.

Jude has met all criteria for parole and has already served the longest sentence for an "economic crime" of any foreigner.

Call to Action!

The only way to help Jude is by repeated and consistent pressure on the Chinese government, through the US government, media and business officials:

Please write to your U.S. Senators and Representatives and ask them to write to the State Department and Chinese officials on behalf of Jude (the Take Action area has links to names and addresses of US government officials and lists of Chinese officials to petition).

Please alert your contacts in the media to Jude's case (see our Press Center for support).

If you are doing business with high-level officials in China, please bring Jude's case to their attention. Please share with them the Free Jude Shao Case Summary document.

Sincerely,

The Free Jude Shao Campaign

(Stanford Graduate School of Business Class of 1993, friends and business colleagues of Jude Shao)