（8610）8451-2800 taotao@globe-law.com Beijing

Introduction

Tao Tao, holder of four master's degrees in Education, Applied Linguistics, Business Administration, and Criminal Law. Previously, she worked as an editor, producer, and bilingual host in Chinese and English at a central government-affiliated agency. Throughout her career, she has been mentored by Xu Ping, China's renowned criminal defense lawyer, Senior Partner and Director of the Criminal Defense Institute at Beijing Dacheng Law Offices, LLP, and Yalin Wang, a National First-class Lawyer, National Outstanding Lawyer and Director of the Management Committee at King A&P Law Firm in Anhui. Tao Tao specializes in criminal defense for both Chinese and foreign nationals, alongside corporate compliance, and excels in handling international trade disputes and cross-border conflict resolutions.

Remarkable achievements

Acquittal Case | Acquittal Case Involving a Central Enterprise's Collusion in Bidding and Bribery

During the bidding process for a RMB 1.20 billion underground rail project in a provincial capital, a central enterprise was suspected of bribery amounting to RMB 7.80 million and engaging in bid collusion. The public security authority charged the enterprise's executives and two responsible persons with crimes of collusive bidding and bribery. Through multiple communications with the prosecutorial authorities at the provincial, municipal, and district levels, the defense lawyer submitted defense arguments and filed for a criminal compliance rectification request. The prosecutorial authorities agreed to initiate a criminal compliance rectification for the involved enterprise. Following the enterprise's compliance rectification, the prosecutorial authorities finally decided not to prosecute the central enterprise and its executives, and the public security authority withdrew the case against the two responsible persons, and dismissed the case. Another related case involving a central enterprise and three responsible persons, suspected of a RMB 1.10 billion project and RMB 7.80 million in bribery, was also dismissed without prosecution.

Acquittal Case | Acquittal Case Involving Issuing RMB 300 Million of False Invoices

During the preliminary investigation phase before the public security authority filed the case, the client was questioned. The client is convinced of their inevitable criminal liability and has consequently retained a lawyer for representation. The lawyer collected evidence of innocence, visited the Public Security Bureau to negotiate, and provided evidence of innocence along with written opinions arguing that the action did not constitute the crime of issuing false invoices. Subsequently, the lawyer maintained communication with the investigators, and provided similar cases of acquittal and relevant articles. Upon review, the public security authority decided not to file a case against the client.

Acquittal Case | Fraud Acquittal Case

Company A, an industry leader in a province, was determined by investigative authorities to have its two affiliated branch offices in a city, through their respective heads, X Mao and X Tian, defraud the state of over RMB 300,000 in subsidies by providing false materials for 53 individuals, constituting the crime of fraud. In accordance with the sentencing standards and guidelines, the baseline sentence for the fraud amount is seven years. Upon being retained, the lawyer took on the role of defense lawyer for X Mao. In addition to reviewing the evidence on record, the defense lawyer visited relevant provincial departments, met with the suspect and senior executives of the involved company to understand the case details, collected a substantial amount of documentary and other objective evidence, and instructed the suspect in gathering, organizing, and summarizing evidence for themselves. The defense lawyer made four visits to the prosecutorial authorities, alongside two trips to relevant provincial departments, and the involved company. Within a month, the defense lawyer produced 100,000 Chinese characters of reading notes and submitted two not-guilty pleas, totaling 11,000 Chinese characters, to the prosecutorial authority. Following review, the prosecutorial authority concluded that only four out of the 53 individuals had forged materials, and reduced the original fraud amount of over RMB 350,000 to RMB 31,400. Given the minor nature of the crime and the complete restitution of the involved fund, the authority decided not to prosecute X Mao and X Tian.

Success Case | Case of XX Gao's Organization of Prostitution

XX Gao, a well-known female entrepreneur in the local area, was accused of organizing prostitution. The court of first instance convicted her of the crime of organizing prostitution, sentencing her to seven years in prison and imposing a fine of RMB 1.5 million. The defense lawyer represented her in the second instance. After the appellate hearing, the appellate court overturned the original verdict and remanded the case for retrial. The retrial significantly reduced the first instance penalty.

Success Case | Case of XX Wang's Intentional Injury, Deliberate Property Damage, and Embezzlement

XX Wang, a shareholder of a mining company, encountered disputes and conflicts with other shareholders during the company's operations. Subsequently, XX Wang was accused by these shareholders of intentional injury, deliberate property damage, and embezzlement. The public security authority filed the case and initiated an investigation into the allegations, charging XX Wang with crimes of intentional injury, deliberate property damage, and embezzlement. During the review and prosecution stage, the defense lawyer argued that XX Wang's action did not constitute a crime. The prosecution partially accepted the defense's opinion, concluding that XX Wang's actions did not constitute a crime of embezzlement. Instead, they charged him with intentional injury and deliberate property damage in their indictment to the court. In the first instance trial phase, the defense lawyer actively facilitated negotiations between the court, the procuratorate, and the local government, resulting in a settlement between XX Wang and the other shareholders. The court of first instance held two sessions two years apart, and after the defense lawyer's arguments, the first defendant, XX Wang, as a repeat offender, was sentenced to probation with concurrent sentences for two crimes, while all four defendants were released.

Success Case | Case of Zhang XX's Romance Scam

XX Zhang registered on a dating APP, and falsely claimed to engage in romantic, matrimonial, or amorous conversations with male users for a fee. These conversations, whether through text, voice messages, video calls, or the purchase of virtual gifts, required the consumption of coins. These coins could only be obtained through recharge payments for ongoing communication. The recharge fees were then split between the female interlocutor and the platform according to a predetermined percentage. Later, the dating APP platform was apprehended by the public security authority. The public security authority filed the case and initiated an investigation against the platform's responsible person and the female interlocutor for suspected fraud. It was determined that XX Zhang was implicated in a scam involving RMB 490,000, with illicit earnings amounting to RMB 230,000. During the review and prosecution phase, the defense lawyer engaged in thorough discussions with the prosecutor on several occasions, arguing that XX Zhang's conduct did not constitute a crime. The prosecutorial authority partially accepted the defense's arguments, agreed on a reduction in XX Zhang's penalty and proposed a three-year prison sentence with four-year probation for the crime of fraud. Ultimately, the court of first instance adopted the prosecuting authority’s sentence proposal.

Case of Female Tycoon's Gang Crime Supervised by the Central Anti-Gang Crime and Evil Supervision Team
Case of X Wang's Illegal Trading, Transporting of Drug-making Materials, and Environmental Pollution
“Case Involving Endangering Precious and Endangered Wildlife on June 25” in a city
“Illegal Mining Case on March 21” in a city
Case of X Zhang's Selling Goods with Counterfeit Registered Trademark
Case of a Company and XX Peng's Illegally Occupation of Agricultural Land
Case of Li Brothers'Corruption
Case of XX Yan's Accepting and Offering Bribes
Case of XX Sha's Defrauding Loans from Banks, Pawnshops, and Other Financial Institutions
Case of a Loan Intermediary Agency and XX Zhao's Fraud
Case of XX Zhan's Gathering a Crowd to Disturb Public and Traffic Order
Case of XX Kan's Fraudulently Obtaining Exit Documents During the COVID-19
Case of XX Meng's Organizing and Leading Pyramid Selling Activities and Issuing False Invoices
Case of XX Li's Organization of Obscene Performances
XX Hao's Rape Case

Academic writings

A Preliminary Analysis of the Applicability Issues of Withdrawal from Joint Offenses - Qingmiao Law Review of China University of Political Science and Law

Work experience

Legal Counsel & Attorney at Beijing Globe-Law Law Firm
Attorney at Beijing Dacheng Law Offices, LLP
Attorney at King A&P Law Firm in Anhui

Education

Bachelor of English, Harbin Normal University
Master of Education & Master of Applied Linguistics, University of Newcastle, Australia
Master of Business Administration, Coventry University, United Kingdom
Master of Criminal Law (Candidate), China University of Political Science and Law