Behind the Fall of China’s Luckin Coffee: a Network of Fake Buyers and a Fictitious Employee

China’s upstart Luckin Coffee Inc. grew at a blinding pace. It opened stores faster than Starbucks Corp., doubled its valuation to $12 billion eight months after going public and pleased its big-name investors in the U.S.

Then, on April 2, Luckin said many of its sales had been faked.

The shock brought a screeching stop to the three-year-old…