Chinese actress Fan Bingbing recently announced that she is filing a lawsuit against fugitive tycoon Guo Wengui in the U.S. for defamation over the “false” statements he allegedly made about her.
Fan’s camp posted a statement on Weibo on Thursday accusing the exiled businessman and activist of “malicious slander” that had “severely damaged [her] reputation”. It also demanded that Guo and “relevant platforms” stop making such claims against the actress.
According to the SCMP, the actress was reacting to a video Guo posted on YouTube last month alleging that multiple female celebrities, including Fan, had sexual relations with a senior Communist Party leader.
Guo, who currently resides in his Manhattan penthouse, has been throwing dirt at the Chinese political elite by feeding information to the international media.
In his allegation involving Fan, he implicated 68-year-old Politburo Standing Committee member and China’s anti-corruption tsar, Wang Qishan, in carrying out affairs with female Chinese celebrities.
Fan’s management team, which has maintained that Guo’s claims were merely “fabricated out of thin air,” said that the actress will be represented by Los Angeles-based law firm Lavely & Singer in the case. Formal legal proceedings against Guo have reportedly begun.
It is important to note, however, that Guo has so far accumulated a number of lawsuits from both China and the U.S. in recent months for calling out Chinese politicians and powerful businessmen for their alleged corruption. He has yet to be prosecuted.
Although in exile, Guo has remained a controlling shareholder in Beijing Zenith Holdings and Beijing Pangu Investment.
Another Chinese actress by the name of Xu Qing has recently expressed similar plans of suing Guo for slander for the same sex rumor.
