Taipei prosecutors are investigating prominent cosmetic doctor Paul Huang (黃博健) and his wife, Internet celebrity Su Chen Tuan (蘇陳端), better known as Lady Nai Nai (貴婦奈奈), for alleged financial fraud, after they left Taiwan on a flight to the US, with local media reporting that they might be “hiding” on Canada’s Prince Edward Island.
Huang, 38, and Su Chen, 44, have been accused of defrauding clients and friends of about NT$ 1 billion (US$32.42 million), some of which people invested in Ab initio Medicina (杏立博全), an upscale cosmetic surgery clinic in Taipei, and two other businesses operated by the couple.
Debtors and clients who made advance payments for seminars and medical treatment have formed a victims’ association and filed criminal complaints, while Taipei prosecutors confirmed that they are investigating fraud charges against the couple.
Prosecutors summoned the couple for questioning and barred them from leaving the country after they failed to appear, as their Taipei clinic and other businesses had been shut down without warning last week and they had not paid their employees.
However, immigration officials at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport confirmed that the couple had boarded a flight bound for San Francisco on Nov. 30.
Investigators said that the couple had made plans for their escape after transferring about NT$1 billion to foreign bank accounts, laundered some of the money and only declared bankruptcy for Ab initio Medicina after emigrating.
Paul Huang’s father, Huang Li-hsiung (黃立雄), is a leading expert in obstetrics, while his elder brother Huang Po-hao (黃博浩) is a surgeon at National Taiwan University Hospital.
After the case received media attention, Huang Li-hsiung also disappeared, with reports saying that a number of family members had also flown to the US over the past week and that all of them held US or Canadian passports.
A man surnamed Chen (陳), who said he was a fraud victim, told reporters that the couple was on Prince Edward Island, where they own a house.
The purchase showed that they had been scheming to illegally transfer assets to Canada, as they had acquired citizenship there, Chen said.
The family members are followers of the Bliss and Wisdom Foundation (福智佛教基金會), a Taiwanese Buddhist organization, and Huang Li-hsiung is a major financial backer of the organization’s leader, who is a relative, Chen said.
The foundation has established overseas headquarters on the island and encouraged followers to transfer their assets there, which could qualify them for Canadian citizenship through the Immigrant Investor Program, he added.
Lady Nai Nai on Saturday closed her popular blog and Facebook fan page, issuing an apology in which she asked people to give the couple time to resolve “the current urgent matter,” adding that they had “encountered the most difficult situation.”
The statement denied that the couple “took the money and ran,” saying that they “had to give up the business, because our lives were under threat.”
Reports said that among the victims were some patients, who were asked to pay in advance for plastic surgery and cosmetic treatments.
The couple over the years accumulated large debts and had to borrow money to pay the interest and avoid defaulting on their loans, they added.
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
Yangmingshan National Park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) nature area has gone viral after a park livestream camera observed a couple in the throes of intimate congress, which was broadcast live on YouTube, drawing large late-night crowds and sparking a backlash over noise, bright lights and disruption to wildlife habitat. The area’s livestream footage appeared to show a couple engaging in sexual activity on a picnic table in the park on Friday last week, with the uncensored footage streamed publicly online. The footage quickly spread across social media, prompting a tide of visitors to travel to the site to “check in” and recreate the
Fast food chain McDonald's is to raise prices by up to NT$5 on some products at its restaurants across Taiwan, starting on Wednesday next week, the company announced today. The prices of all extra value meals and sharing boxes are to increase by NT$5, while breakfast combos and creamy corn soup would go up by NT$3, the company said in a statement. The price of the main items of those meals, if ordered individually, would remain the same. Meanwhile, the price of a medium-sized lemon iced tea and hot cappuccino would rise by NT$3, extra dipping sauces for chicken nuggets would go up
Minister of Digital Affairs Lin Yi-ching (林宜敬) yesterday cited regulatory issues and national security concerns as an expert said that Taiwan is among the few Asian regions without Starlink. Lin made the remarks on Facebook after funP Innovation Group chief executive officer Nathan Chiu (邱繼弘) on Friday said Taiwan and four other countries in Asia — China, North Korea, Afghanistan and Syria — have no access to Starlink. Starlink has become available in 166 countries worldwide, including Ukraine, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, in the six years since it became commercial, he said. While China and North Korea block Starlink, Syria is not
RSS