Caixin, China's most respected business publication, on April 29, 2017, published an explosive investigative report by its special correspondent, Guo Tinbing, about Anbang Insurance. He presented evidence and raised questions about the financial health and corporate ownership structure of Anbang, China's third-largest insurer by assets. Anbang immediately denied the allegations and threatened to sue. 

Even before Caixin's bombshell report, Anbang had attracted attention for its aggressive big-ticket investment projects overseas. The insurer made its debut as an acquirer of trophy property in 2014 by paying a record $1.95 billion for the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York and struck deals totaling $6.5 billion for such luxury hotels as the Essex House in New York and several Four Seasons hotels in the U.S. It also bid US$ 14 billion, but withdrew the bid after Chinese insurance regulators raised concerns, and suffered another setback with its failure to seal a US$ 400 million deal to invest in a Manhattan property owned by the family of Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser.

(Comment: Possibly a venture of the State Council, Anbang is also known for its political connections. Its chairman, Wu Xiaohui, who owns the firm along with other family members, is married to the granddaughter of Deng Xiaoping.)