Alexander Group (亞力山大集團) founder Candy Tang (唐雅君) and her sister Tang Hsin-ru (唐心如) were indicted yesterday on charges of fraud and breach of trust. Prosecutors said they would seek five-and-a-half-year sentences for the sisters.
"Prosecutors are seeking such long sentences because [the sisters] defrauded their customers by continuing to recruit members when [they knew] the business was very close to shutting down," said Lin Jinn-tsun (林錦村), a spokesman for the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office.
Battered by financial difficulties, the Alexander Group shut down all 20 of its Alexander Health Clubs (亞力山大健康休閒俱樂部) branches on Dec. 10 last year without giving prior notice to its 10,000 members or the company's 2,000 employees.
On Dec. 12, Candy Tang and Tang Hsin-ru were released on NT$2 million (US$60,000) bail each after they were detained on suspicion of defrauding health club customers.
Prosecutors said yesterday the Alexander Group had suffered financial difficulties since Aug. 1 last year, but the Tangs had continued to sell club memberships.
Between August and November last year, Alexander signed up 8,900 health club members, prosecutors said.
The Tangs earned NT$244 million from the membership contracts, prosecutors said.
A lawyer representing Candy Tang said he was suprised by the indictments.
"On average, the prosecutor's office will take half a year to resolve such a matter. The fact that they reached the decision to indict so quickly -- in merely a month -- makes me question their professionalism," Ivan Liu (劉立恩) said.
"The indictment document, from my understanding, is nearly 200 pages long. How is it possible for prosecutors to go through all that information in such a short time?" Liu said. "I believe prosecutors might have misinterpreted the evidence."
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JERRY LIN
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