This is not an auspicious year for David Li.

In February, the chairman of Bank of East Asia (BEA), and a longtime director of Dow Jones, the publisher of The Wall Street Journal, quit the city's cabinet following allegations of insider trading by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Li was suspected for a possible leak of confidential information to a Hong Kong couple who was accused of making millions of dollars from insider trading of shares in Dow Jones.

Li agreed to pay $8.1 million in fines without admitting or denying wrongdoing.

The SEC accused the city's couple, Wong Kan-king and Charlotte Wong, of making $8.2 million from a "highly suspicious" pattern of trading. Wong is the daughter of Michael Leung, a longtime business associate and charity board ally of Li.

SEC alleged that it found some of the couple's stock purchases were financed by $3.1 million transferred by Leung.

In June, BEA faced a barrage of criticism saying it had shut down operations of one of its borrowers, a budget hotel in Mong Kok, and drove out guests.

BEA took over Tatami Hampton Hotel after it failed to pay up a loan of HK$86 million without giving notice to the hotel's guests.

BEA, however, said it was not responsible for the hotel's closure and subsequent eviction of its guests, and that the hotel had continued to accept bookings despite a court decision in May stipulating a possession order.

Hong Kong government and tourism commissioners later offered apologies to the guests for the unfortunate incident. Tatami Hampton re-opened earlier this month.

Last week, a trader with the bank was found burying losses, forcing the lender to revise down the first-half profits by 11.7 percent to HK$821 million. The case is still being investigated by the police.

The Li family has a long history. David Li's great-grandfather, Li Shek-tang, was a shipping magnate and owned a rice mill. David Li's grandfather, Li Koon-chun, was one of the founders of the Bank of East Asia in 1918, the first bank in Hong Kong not owned by emigrants from Britain.

(HK Edition 09/25/2008 page2)