When Chinese multimillionaire Chen Guangbiao placed ads in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal announcing he would buy lunch for 1,000 disadvantaged New Yorkers before handing them each $300 (£176,000), the city's poor were understandably excited. That excitement would soon turn to anger.
This past Wednesday, VICE News attended the circus-like event. Two hundred and fifty disadvantaged people – not the 1,000 advertised – were treated to lunch at the swanky Central Park Boathouse. And none of them were told that there would be no cash handout.
When they found out, things turned ugly.