China deports British, American investigators linked to GSK scandal

A British corporate investigator and his American wife and business partner linked to a bribery scandal in China involving Britain’s largest pharmaceutical firm – GlaxoSmithKline PLC – were deported to London’s Heathrow Airport Wednesday after receiving reduced jail terms.

Peter Humphrey and Yu Yingzeng, owners of risk consultancy company ChinaWhys, were sentenced in August 2014 for illegally obtaining private records of Chinese citizens and selling the information to clients that included GSK, according to Reuters.

Humphrey and Yu served seven months of a sentence that was scheduled to last over two years. Their case coincided with a Chinese investigation of GSK, which led to a $489 million fine against the drug company for paying bribes to doctors to use its drugs.

The investigators were hired by GSK to look into the origins of a sex video involving one of the drug company’s former executives, Mark Reilly, who led GSK’s operations in China. Company officials confirmed the existence of the video but did not comment on how it was related to the bribery scandal.

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