Chinese celebrity Kris Wu was sentenced to 13 years in prison on a rape conviction.

The 32-year-old will also be deported after serving his sentence, a court in Beijing ruled Friday.

Wu, known as Wu Yifan in China, was a rising star until 2021. That year, more than two dozen women reported that Wu had messaged them to meet, gotten them drunk, and taken advantage of them.

Kris Wu attends the American Music Awards in 2018.

Chinese authorities detained Wu, who also has Canadian citizenship, a few weeks after the victims came forward.

The criminal case concerned five women. Three women said Wu raped them at his home in 2020, and he was convicted and sentenced to 11 years and 6 months in prison.

The Daily News Flash

The Daily News Flash

Weekdays

Catch up on the day’s top five stories every weekday afternoon.

The second charge focused on a 2018 incident, in which two women said Wu assaulted them after getting them drunk. Wu was sentenced to 1 year and 10 months in that case, which was formally prosecuted as “assembling a crowd to engage in sexual promiscuity.”

Court proceedings were closed to the public. Chinese authorities said it was to protect the privacy of the victims.

In addition to the prison sentence for sexual violence, Wu was fined 600 million yuan ($83.7 million) for evading taxes while massively underreporting the income from his celebrity.

Wu got his start in the K-pop boy band EXO before embarking on a lucrative solo career. Mainly known as an artist, Wu also appeared in several Chinese films and the Vin Diesel-fronted Hollywood movie “XXX: Return of Xander Cage.”

Authorities said Wu used that stardom to prey on young women, including some who were underage. Wu “repeatedly lured young women” to have sex, police said when Wu was arrested.

A Canadian diplomat witnessed the court proceedings because Wu was born in Guangzhou, China, but also grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia.

With News Wire Services



Source link

By admin