The Taichung District Court has cleared a telephone sex worker of fraud, after she was accused by a client of deceiving him into giving her NT$1.13 million (US$34,631) in cash as well as other gifts.
According to the ruling, the plaintiff — a Miaoli County man surnamed Peng (彭) — claimed he gave the woman, known as Wen Wen (玟玟) — NT$1.13 million in cash, in addition to 19 gifts that included a mobile phone, a tablet device, a Louis-Vuitton handbag and sanitary products.
Peng accused Wen Wen of making false statements during their telephone conversations over a six-month period in 2013, such as claiming to be an attractive and unattached 23-year-old former model, when in fact she is a 32-year-old mother of two, the ruling said.
He also said that Wen Wen claimed to be in dire financial straits and was thinking of working as a “bar hostess,” which he said convinced him to send her cash and gifts through a private delivery service.
Peng said he had never met Wen Wen, and that she had refused to deal with him directly during the legal process, which she handled through her employer’s attorney.
The judge ruled that Wen Wen was not guilty of fraud, on the grounds that Peng could not substantiate his claims of financial loss, as his bank statements did not show withdrawals matching the claimed losses, or the financial ability to purchase such expensive gifts.
In addition, the judge ruled that fulfillment of erotic fantasies is the service expected of telephone sex workers, and therefore the false comments Wen Wen allegedly made could not be considered criminal.
The court rejected Peng’s claim that a private settlement of NT$100,000 from Wen Wen’s employers is evidence of wrongdoing on her part, because the telephone sex company said that it made the payment so that Peng would stop making trouble at its business office.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
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