A US model flew to Taiwan to sue a Taiwanese man for allegedly using his photos to lure up to 20 women into sex and defraud others.
“I am shocked. How could he do such a thing?” Richie Kul, 29, told reporters in Taipei yesterday. “Violating the copyright of my photo is a small thing. What is serious is his using my photos to cheat women. My heart goes out to all the victims.”
Kul said he learned about the Taiwanese man’s activity after a friend visited Taiwan and read the news.
“Many friends told me not to come to Taiwan [to file the lawsuit], but I insisted on coming here because I don’t want a repeat of the crime,” the Chinese-language Apple Daily quoted him as saying.
It is not clear when Kul will file the lawsuit and how much in damages he will seek from the alleged Taiwanese swindler.
Kul is the son of a Chinese-American father and a Chinese-Thai mother.
He was born in Thailand, but emigrated to the US when he was two years old.
After graduating from Stanford University, he worked as an investment banker before taking up fashion modeling in 2004.
The Taiwanese man who used Kul’s photos to lure women, Hsu Hsien-ming (許顯名), 50, a divorcee and stock-market analyst, was arrested on Nov. 13 in Taipei.
Hsu posted photos of Kul online and used the images to lure women.
Going under the name Angor, he introduced himself as the 30-year-old son of a Taiwanese father and French mother.
He said he was on business in the US, but looking to marry a Taiwanese woman.
However, “Angor” would not consider marrying a woman unless she was prepared to have sex with his father — whom Hsu portrayed, claiming to have terminal prostate cancer and requiring constant sex to say alive.
One hundred women, ages 28 to 50, were drawn in by the scheme, about 20 of whom went on to have sex with Hsu.
Others sent money to help with breast cancer surgery for Angor’s mother, who did not exist.
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
TRADE-OFF: Beijing seeks to trade a bowl of tempura for a Chinese delicacy, an official said, while another said its promises were attempts to interfere in the polls The government must carefully consider the national security implications of building a bridge connecting Kinmen County and Xiamen, China, the Public Construction Commission (PCC) said yesterday. PCC Commissioner Derek Chen (陳金德), who is also a minister without portfolio, made the remarks in a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, after Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsu Fu-kuei (徐富癸) asked about China’s proposal of new infrastructure projects to further connect Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties with Xiamen. China unveiled the bridge plan, along with nine other policies for Taiwan, on Sunday, the last day of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) visit