The freeze will remain in effect until another parallel lawsuit concludes or a new ruling is issued by the court, the South China Morning Post reported, citing a High Court ruling on Friday.
The court also ordered Kelly to disclose full details of the HSBC account in question.
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Kelly Zong (Fuli Zong) delivers a speech while attending a forum event in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, Nov. 24, 2020. Photo by CFOTO/Sipa USA via Reuters |
Nicknamed the “Princess of Wahaha,” the 43-year-old heiress had long been believed to be the only child of the group’s late billionaire founder Zong Qinghou. But she is now being sued by her father’s three extramarital children.
The trio—Jacky, Jessie and Jerry Zong—are demanding over $2 billion in trust assets they said their father had promised them before his passing last February, as reported by Bloomberg.
They claimed the late Zong left “hand-written instructions” in January 2024 directing a subordinate to create three separate trusts for them, each worth $700 million.
They also accused Kelly of failing to follow through on that plan and of withdrawing more than $6 million from the HSBC account, according to Malay Mail.
The bank account, which supposedly contains the funds for the trusts, held about $1.8 billion as of early 2024.
Kelly’s lawyer maintained that the notes were not addressed to her and that she had no knowledge of where the $300 million shortfall should be sourced from.
The High Court noted that there were “serious issues to be tried” and that the plaintiffs had submitted a letter from Kelly affirming her intention to commit to the trusts, as well as two handwritten wills.
Zong, once the richest person in China, established Wahaha in 1987. The beverage company started with a milk-based nutritional drink and eventually expanded nationwide, offering bottled water, tea, and fruit juices.
He died at the age of 79, with a net worth of $5.9 billion as of 2023, according to Forbes.
Kelly took the helm of the beverage group following his passing. She had graduated from the U.S.’s Pepperdine University and had already spent years at the firm before that.
Zong was admired for championing traditional family values, but his reputation has been called into question following the lawsuit and revelations that he had children outside his marriage. The case has also cast doubt on the long-term stability of family-owned enterprises in the country.
