Man held for blackmail in Kris Wu sex scandal case

A man has been detained after confessing to trying to blackmail super idol Kris Wu, who is accused of coercing young girls, including minors, into having sex with him.

The man, surnamed Liu, 23, tried to extort 3 million yuan (US$465,000) from Wu, according to police in Chaoyang District in Beijing, who described him as a racketeer.

They say he used the name of college student Du Meizhu, Wu's chief accuser in the sex scandal.

On July 14, Chaoyang police received call from Wu's mother who claimed Wu was blackmailed by Du.

Police launched and investigation and targeted Liu. He was caught in Nantong City in Jiangsu Province on July 18.

In an online post, Du had originally accused Wu of date rape when she was underage and said she was not the only one. Wu has denied any wrongdoing and accused Du of blackmail. 

Police say that on December 5, 2020, Wu's executive manager invited Du, then 18, to attend a party, saying Wu, then 30, was looking for an actress for his music video.

Du arrived around 10pm when there were more than 10 people at Wu's home. They drank and played board games until 7am the next day.

After the others left, Du stayed and had sex with Wu. They became WeChat friends. She left that afternoon after lunch. On December 8, Wu transferred 32,000 yuan to Du for an online purchase.

They remained in touch until April 2021.

But in June, 2021, Du and her friend, also surnamed Liu, 19, plotted to expose her affair with Wu to raise her fame on the Internet.

On June 2, Liu posted on Weibo, saying Wu had taken advantage of Du. From July 8 to 11, Du released three posts and more details.

After being contacted by Wu's mother, the initial police investigation showed that Liu, the accused, had cooked up a female identity and contacted Du in disguise as a girl who was also lured into having sex with Wu. Du believed "her" and shared details of her affair with Wu.

On July 10, Liu, using Du's name, contacted Wu's lawyer, demanding 3 million yuan. He gave the lawyer bank account details for himself and Du.

Wu's mother only transferred a total of 500,000 yuan to Du.

Liu again contacted Wu's lawyer, demanding the remaining 2.5 million yuan. The lawyer refused.

Then, pretending to be Wu's lawyer, he contacted Du and offered 3 million yuan if she signed an agreement, otherwise she would have to return the 500,000.

Saying the agreement had legal loopholes, Du agreed to return the money, and had transferred a total of 180,000 yuan to Liu before police stepped in.