Our growing popularity in this town correlates nicely with the number of tips we receive about people or organizations that deserve a virtual can of whoopass. Who would have thought Hong Kong is full of vindictive individuals who’d happily submit dirt on (former) lovers, friends, colleagues and employers? That was a rhetorical question by the way.

This time we’d like to bring to your attention an 80-year old fossil named Ted Thomas (real name: Thomas Edward Juson). Ted is a veteran PR man who was born in Britain but has lived in Hong Kong for the past decades. In 1973 he founded Corporate Communications Ltd (CCL), a media consultancy firm, and before that the man worked as a broadcaster and Head of Publicity and Promotions at the Government Information Services Department. Seems like a rather distinguished gentleman right?

Wrong. Teddy likes to take money from even older ladies and not pay it back. The victim is miss Clare Hollingworth, who is 98 years old as we speak. This extraordinary woman has had a long career in international journalism that began and ended with The Daily Telegraph, by which time she was in her seventies. What is she best known for? Oh.. Just the discovery of the German invasian of Poland in 1939, the beginning of fucking WWII.

There seems to be more shady stuff though. On the website of Corporate Communications Ltd., we can have a look at the firm’s current client list. These 12 clients include at least one organization that Ted actually founded himself (The Wig & Pen Club), which is slightly dubious, but can be forgiven. More interesting though is the fact that this list contains two charities. One of them is the World Children’s Fund (WCF), which is also rather notorious for its murky dealings. This is a charity that for example claims to double the value of your donations, while conveniently not revealing how this awesome trick is performed. The WCF was founded by a guy named Joseph Lam. Who?

“Mr. Lam is one of the outstanding humanitarians in the world. He was born in Hong Kong, China and immigrated to the United States in 1966. In 1982, he had a life-changing encounter with Mother Teresa in Calcutta, India. Eventually, this personal meeting led him to devote his life to helping others, especially needy children. In the mid-90s, he started his first children’s project and later that year incorporated World Children’s Fund in the USA. Since then, he has traveled the world helping local leaders set up local WCF-style organizations, which work together informally through the WCF Global Care and Share Network. Read more about Joseph Lam’s life in our History section.”

Our humble recommendation? Run away as fast as you can from people who take money from (very) old ladies and never donate to a charity that doesn’t tell you where the money goes and was inspired by another old lady who once claimed abortion was the greatest threat to world peace. The Dark Side at your service.