In 2015, Yang Mi promised to donate 100 sticks and 50 typewriters for blind person to Chengdu Special Education School during the road show of ‘I am a witness’ in Chengdu. In 2018, Jaxing company, Yang Mi studio, issued a statement saying it was related to the middleman Li Meng after a controversy arising from her delayed charitable donations. Li prosecuted Yang for violating her right of reputation and claimed for an apology and compensation. On March 20, 2019, the Xicheng District Court of Beijing issued a first-instance civil written judgment, ruling that the defendant did not violate the plaintiff’s right of reputation, and Yang Mi won the case.

Article 7 of the Supreme People’s Court on several questions concerning the trial of cases about the right of reputation stipulates that those who insult or slander others in written or oral form and damage others’ reputation shall be deemed to have infringed others’ right of reputation. If a news report is seriously untrue and causes damage to the reputation of others, it shall be treated as a violation of the reputation of others.

After Yang Mi got involved in the ‘donation fraud’ incident, her studio issued a statement saying that Yang Mi had completed the donation while Li Meng did not carry it out so that Li Meng prosecuted Yang Mi’s studio. According to the court judgement, Yang Mi had earlier remitted 56,000 yuan for the purchase of walking sticks to the fund account offerred by Li Meng, but Li Meng did not implement it. The statement issued by her studio did not infringe Li Meng’s right of reputation, so Yang Mi won the case.

But some netizens questioned the donation of walking sticks and typewriters for the blind person, thinking that only transferring 56000 yuan is still donation fraud.

The judgment lists notarized evidence such as mail and remittance records to illustrate the facts. According to the chatting records, Li Meng said that the classroom had been built and had invested 400,000 yuan to equip the classroom with a typewriter for the blind person so that Yang Mi could only donate 200 walking sticks for the blind person. Yang Mi said during the road show of Chengdu that she would donate walking sticks and typewriters for the blind person while only walking sticks were showed in relevant evidence. We believe that there is a possibility of donation fraud. However, some gossip showed that Li Meng donated the money in the name of Yang Mi at that time while the truth is unclear.

So is donation fraud illegal?

According to item1, paragraph 1, article 41 of the Charity Law of the People’s Republic of China, donors shall fulfill their donation obligations in accordance with the donation agreement. If the donor has made public pledges of donation through radio, television, newspapers, magazines, the Internet or other media but failed to deliver the donated property exceeding the time limit in violation of the donation agreement, the charitable organization or another person receiving the donation may require delivery. If the donor refuses to deliver the donation, the charitable organization or another person receiving the donation may apply to the people’s court for a payment order or bring a prosecution in accordance with the legislation.

Nowadays, many stars and entrepreneurs, such as Wang Fei, Gu Tianle, Ma Yun and others, publicly promise to donate at the press conference or make contributions unknown to the public in order to run promotions or really want to do charity.

We must do as we say, otherwise we may destroy our image and be caught in the lawsuit. It is a good thing to do charity, but we should also protect ourselves, or we will be considered ‘donation fraud’. If the amount of donation is relatively large, entrepreneurs and others can consult their own lawyers about notarization and other matters to keep effective evidence for their own donation, so as not to give your enemy a wife and lose your soldiers as well.