A man has confessed to defrauding Chinese-Canadian pop singer Kris Wu (吳亦凡) over a teenager’s accusation that he had sex with her when she was drunk, Beijing police said on Thursday.
The announcement added a bizarre twist to a scandal that cost Wu endorsement contracts with brands including Porsche and Bulgari.
The former member of South Korean boy band EXO has denied the accusation, which drew an outpouring of online support for the woman and criticism of Wu.
On Friday, Louis Vuitton became the latest brand to end its contract with Wu.
A man who saw rumors about the incident online contacted the woman last month and obtained information that allowed him to pretend to be her to ask Wu’s lawyer for money, the Beijing Public Security Bureau said in a statement.
It said the man tricked both sides, indicating that the woman played no part in the fraud.
Wu’s mother sent the woman 500,000 yuan (US$77,000), and then the man, pretending to be Wu’s lawyer, tried to persuade the woman to send the money to him, the statement said.
It said he tried unsuccessfully to obtain an additional 2.5 million yuan from Wu’s real lawyer.
The man, identified only by the surname Liu, was arrested on Sunday in Nantong after the singer’s mother complained to police that the family had been defrauded, the statement said.
The woman had been quoted by the Internet portal NetEase as saying that Wu encouraged her to drink too much at a party in December last year and she woke up in his bed.
In a statement on social media, Wu said that he met the woman, but denied encouraging her to drink and said other parts of her account did not happen.
The woman was quoted as saying other women told her Wu seduced them with promises of jobs and other opportunities.
Police are investigating allegations that Wu “repeatedly deceived young women into sexual relations,” the statement said.
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