Aly Song/Reuters
Chinese authorities seeking the arrest of a fugitive businessman accused of fraud are reportedly holding his two American children in a bid to lure him back to the country, The New York Times reports. Victor and Cynthia Liu, both U.S. citizens, say they have been barred from leaving the country since visiting a tropical Chinese island over the summer. Their mother, Sandra Han, who is also a U.S. citizen, has reportedly been detained and taken to a secret site known as a “black jail.” The two children have appealed to National Security Adviser John Bolton for help, writing in a letter sent in August that they are being held “as a crude form of human collateral” despite not facing any charges themselves, according to the Times. The children said their father, Liu Changming, a former executive at a state-owned bank, cut ties with them in 2012 but Chinese authorities are still attempting to use them as bait. Their father is accused of involvement in a $1.4 billion fraud case. The Chinese Foreign Ministry confirmed that the family is “restricted from exiting the country” because they are “Chinese citizens” who are “suspected of economic crimes.”