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.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia