On September 30, 2023, the effective judgment of the lawsuit case caused by Shuidi Chiao and fundraising initiator Luo concealing property information and illegally raising funds was fulfilled. The Intermediate People's Court of Fuyang City, Anhui Province found that fundraising initiator Luo did not truthfully disclose property information, violating platform fundraising rules and the principle of good faith, and ordered Luo to fully return the donation of 247000 yuan. After the judgment was pronounced, Shuidi Chiao has recovered Luo's refundable donations in batches according to the effective judgment, and returned them to the donors in batches according to the fundraising rules. At the same time, Luo has been blacklisted as a "dishonest fundraiser" and is permanently prohibited from initiating fundraising on the platform.
The Intermediate People's Court of Fuyang City, Anhui Province believes that when initiating a personal serious illness fundraising project, Luo should be responsible for the authenticity, completeness, and timeliness of the submitted materials. Luo, for failing to provide the true financial status of the patient's family, violated the relevant regulations of the platform and the principle of honesty and trustworthiness, sentenced Luo to refund the fundraising of 247000 yuan and interest to the platform.
In 2020, Liu was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. On October 18th, Luo was entrusted to raise funds for him in Shuidi Fund, totaling 247000 yuan. After the fundraising is completed, the initiator submits a withdrawal application to Shuidiqian, promising to use the withdrawn funds for patient treatment, medical debts, etc. Shortly after, patient Liu passed away due to ineffective medical treatment.
In 2021, during the review and supervision of fundraising in this case, it was discovered that patient Liu and initiator Luo had concealed their family's financial situation and initiated fundraising. For this reason, Shuidiqian promptly took legal measures to dispose of it. In the lawsuit, Shuidiqian claimed that the patient Liu and the initiator Luo violated the user agreement, release terms, and other documents, and the donations obtained from the donors through fundraising should be returned to Shuidiqian in accordance with the law, and returned to the donors by Shuidiqian.
In the final effective judgment of the second instance, the court affirmed the legal effect of the provisions of the Water Drops Fundraising Rules, and found that the initiator Luo violated the Water Drops Fundraising Rules and the principle of good faith when initiating fundraising for patient Liu, and did not truthfully disclose the corresponding property situation. Therefore, he should bear the legal responsibility of returning the obtained fundraising in accordance with the law.
Liu Changshong, Director of Beijing Mugong Law Firm and Master's Supervisor at the University of Law School of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, stated that when the fundraising initiator engages in false, fraudulent, and concealing behavior, the applicant abandons treatment after receiving the funding, or engages in embezzlement, embezzlement, or fraudulent use, the Water Drops platform has the right to recover the fundraising funds on behalf of the donor. At the same time, the platform should also establish a blacklist system for dishonest fundraisers, which prohibits blacklisted users from initiating fundraising activities such as fabricating, exaggerating help seeking information, falsifying cases, and misappropriating medical funds.
Shuidi Fund requires the initiator to fully disclose patient assistance information and provide significant reporting, confirmation, and comment functions on the page for acquaintances in patients' social networks to participate in confirming or reporting. "The person in charge of Shuidi Fund stated that once the platform discovers that the person seeking help has concealed, false, forged or other behaviors, it will immediately freeze the fundraising, terminate the project, and investigate and handle the situation, For those who have already withdrawn funds, full efforts will be made to recover the funds and return them to the donors. For those suspected of illegal activities, joint efforts will be made with the public security to crack down severely.