https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1570781/im-not-spy-says-jimmy-lais-right-hand-man-mark-simon

11 Aug, 2014

"My dad was CIA for 35 years"; "My internship with CIA, four years with naval intelligence…"; "[Next Media] work on human rights cases and have regular fights with many non-democratic regimes in Asia."

Comments like these in leaked correspondence and job-application letters from Mark Simon offer a rare glimpse into his background and that of his employer; insights some media have used to portray the American as a "man of mystery" with ties to the US Central Intelligence Agency.

Simon, 50, is a senior executive at Next Media Group, which is controlled by Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, a strident and unrelenting critic of the Communist Party and the Hong Kong government. It is no secret that Beijing does not like Lai. Simon, as his closest aide, is also a target for attacks by the Beijing-loyalist camp.

A report in the July 23 edition of pro-communist daily Ta Kung Pao was headlined: "Jimmy Lai's close aide is ex-spy."

Simon shrugs off any such insinuation.

Dubbed "the backstage man", Simon found himself taking centre stage after two massive leaks of documents and emails between Simon, Lai and other senior executives of the media group were released to the press in recent weeks.

They reveal discussions of Lai's financial support for pan-democrats and the planned Occupy Central pro-democracy protests, and Simon's role in the transfer of money.

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3107892/chinese-media-mogul-jimmy-lai-unknowingly-funded-false-persona-report

Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai

Chee-ying said he unknowingly funded a report compiled under a fake persona and used in a conspiracy theory to discredit US presidential candidate Joe Biden ahead of the November 3 election

.

The owner of tabloid newspaper Apple Daily tweeted Friday evening that his top aide Mark Simon

used money from Lai’s private company without his knowledge to pay for the project, which accused Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, of having business ties with China.

I’m sorry that Apple Daily was implicated by the NBC article.

But Apple Daily has nothing to with it, I’ve nothing to do with it. My assistant Mark Simon now informed us that he worked with the project, although had not commissioned it. (1/3) https://t.co/ZArKou8hEw

— Jimmy Lai (@JimmyLaiApple) October 30, 2020

Lai, who openly endorsed Donald Trump in the US presidential election, said he and Apple Daily have “nothing to do with it”. Apple Daily also issued a statement denying its involvement.

Simon, who worked for US naval intelligence and who now serves as Lai’s assistant, admitted to the Post that he took money from Lai’s account. Hours later Simon said in a letter that he intended to resign from “a group of companies” held by Lai.

A source close to him said Simon paid US$10,000 over six months to US scholar Christopher Balding as “expense reimbursement” for researching the Biden family’s alleged business interests in China.

I was shocked when our reporter asked me for response to the NBC article. I know it is hard for anyone to believe that I didn’t know about it and my integrity is damaged. (3/3)

— Jimmy Lai (@JimmyLaiApple) October 30, 2020

Simon did not explain why he asked Balding, a former professor at Fulbright University Vietnam, to conduct research on Hunter Biden in the first place. The source said Simon was unaware that Balding was going to write up his findings into a 64-page report.