Ling Jihua
It was widely believed that Mao was investigated in connection with the case surrounding former party General Office chief Ling Jihua, who was detained in December 2014. Ling and Mao attended Hunan University's MBA program at around the same time, and Mao reportedly worked for Ling at the Communist Youth League. "The Beijing News" also reported that Mao had set up a so-called "wives club" at the bank, whereby the bank granted positions which "offered salaries for no work" to the wives of high officials, including Gu Liping, the wife of Ling Jihua, and Yu Lifang, the wife of Su Rong.