Couple paid $16,000 by GSK to investigate sex tape

Briton Peter Humphrey will stand trial next month in Shanghai on charges of illegally obtaining and selling personal data about Chinese citizens. — Shanghai Daily

The Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Court will next month hear charges filed by prosecutors against a foreign couple for illegally obtaining and selling personal information about Chinese citizens.

Peter Humphrey, a British corporate investigator and former journalist, and his American wife Yingzeng Yu, were arrested more than a year ago after being linked to United Kingdom-based pharmaceuticals company GlaxoSmithKline, which is at the center of a bribery scandal in China.

The indictment is the first of its kind to be brought by local prosecutors against foreigners.

Humphrey, 58, and Yu, 61, are accused of illegally selling "a huge amount" of personal information, including details of household registrations, property and car ownership, call logs and exit-entry records, to multinational corporations in China, including GSK China, Xinhua news agency reported.

The pair collected and purchased information through various illicit means, including covert photography and stalking, Xinhua said.

The business was directed through ChinaWhys, the Shanghai-based risk advisory firm set up by Humphrey in 2004, for which Yu also worked.

GSK employed ChinaWhys last year to investigate a former staff member alleged to have circulated a sex tape of the ex-general manager of GSK China, Mark Reilly, with his girlfriend, as well as sending emails containing allegations of widespread bribery at the company.

According to Xinhua, Humphrey was commissioned by former GSK China chief executive Zhao Hongyan, and given an initial payment of 100,000 yuan (US$16,000).

The Sunday Times reported last month that the Reilly video was sent to senior GSK executives in March of last year, after which the company employed private investigators to identify the person responsible for the leak.

The recording emerged just before China launched a bribery probe into the company.

According to the Associated Press, after being asked to comment on the case, GSK cited a July 3 statement saying ChinaWhys was hired in April 2013 to investigate "a serious breach of privacy and security related to" Reilly.

"They were not hired to investigate the substance of the allegations of misconduct made by the whistleblower," it said in an email.

Humphrey and Yu will be tried on August 7, Reuters reported, citing family friends of the accused who declined to be identified.

The trial is likely to provide some insight into the bribery charges directed at the drugs firm after the Ministry of Public Security said that four senior executives from GSK China had been detained for economic crimes last July.

They are accused of bribing doctors and officials at various levels within the Chinese health care system to promote sales of their drugs.

Yu said ChinaWhys had undertaken more than 700 investigations for client companies around the world. For each assignment the company was paid between tens and hundreds of thousands of yuan, Xinhua said.

In about 30 percent of cases, ChinaWhys purchased the personal information about people it needed to complete its reports, it said.

"We regret having broken Chinese laws and apologize for the damage we've caused," Humphrey was quoted as saying from his detention house in Shanghai.

In an interview with CCTV he admitted to using "illegal means" to obtain information.

With regard to the GSK probe, Humphrey said he found out during his investigation that the bribery claims (against Reilly) were true and if he had known that earlier he would not have accepted the case. He said he felt "betrayed and used" by the pharmaceutical firm.

Xinhua reported that the couple's rights are being well protected in custody and that they have seen their attorneys several times.