A father in Zhengzhou, China, plans to turn his 19-year-old daughter over to authorities after discovering she embezzled more than 17 million yuan (approximately HK$20 million) from their family-run company to lavish on livestreaming hosts and collectible "blind box" toys, driving the business to the brink of collapse.
A 30-year-long family enterprise is facing ruin after a young woman allegedly misappropriated company funds for a massive 16-month online spending binge.
The father, a man identified as Zhu, reported that his daughter, Xiao Meng, began managing the finances for the family's cold-chain supply business at the age of 16 after dropping out of vocational school.
Between July 2024 and November 2025, her online spending escalated dramatically.
Bank records show what started as minor purchases spiraled into a daily habit, with transactions occurring from morning until the early hours of the next day. Her spending frequently exceeded 23,000 yuan daily, with single transactions sometimes hitting 100,000 yuan.
In total, she is believed to have spent nearly 11 million yuan on tips and gifts for online streamers and over 6 million yuan on mystery toy boxes, often becoming the top donor in multiple livestreaming channels.
Zhu explained that due to his long work hours and an early divorce, he was not able to provide sufficient guidance for his daughter.
He said the family had previously discovered a smaller instance of overspending and that she had promised to stop, but they failed to implement effective supervision. Now, the business he spent decades building is nearly bankrupt and saddled with millions in external debt.
The family believes a lack of emotional support led Xiao Meng to seek validation from online streamers, whose attention and praise fueled an irrational cycle of spending.
When her family attempted to confiscate her phone, she reportedly threatened suicide.
The father said she seemed indifferent to the potential criminal consequences, concerned only that any attempts to recover the money would not involve her online friends.
Efforts to reclaim the funds directly have been unsuccessful. The MCN agency representing the streamers involved declined to negotiate, directing the family to the livestreaming platform.
The platform stated that it could not verify the source of the funds but would cooperate with any official judicial investigation.
Legal experts have weighed in, noting that because Xiao Meng is an adult, she faces full criminal liability.
The charges could include embezzlement or misappropriation of funds, which for such a large amount could lead to a prison sentence of ten years or more. Lawyers affirmed that if the money is legally classified as stolen funds, the streamers, their agencies, and the platforms would be obligated to return it.
Faced with financial ruin and having exhausted civil options, Zhu has decided that surrendering his daughter to the police is the only remaining path to potentially recover the family's losses through the criminal justice system.
