Allegations of illegal surrogacy and child abandonment…Former top Chinese actress “declares bankruptcy but hides huge assets overseas?

A series of scandals have hit China’s former top actresses.

The woman in the middle of the scandal is Zheng Sou (Zheng Xuan, 32). On April 8, reports in the Hong Kong media, including the South China Morning Post, revealed that Zheng had declared bankruptcy, claiming that she was unable to pay her bills. However, …….

When the government investigated her bank accounts and stock holdings, it came to light that she was hiding huge assets overseas. If she does not pay compensation despite her ability to repay, she can be imprisoned for up to three years and fined.

Zheng was one of the leading stars of the ’10s.’ She became a top actress when she played the heroine in “Meteor Rain,” a Chinese version of the drama “Boys Over Flowers,” which aired from 2009 to 2010. Her films were always big hits, and she has more than 12 million followers on social networking sites.

Successive tax evasion and undeclared tax returns

The turning point came in January 2009. I had two children with my ex-partner, Mr. A, a producer, through surrogacy, which is illegal in China. However, Mr. Zheng allegedly abandoned the children.

In addition, audio data purportedly belonging to Mr. Zheng was leaked in which he expressed his dissatisfaction with Mr. A. Mr. A confessed that he was raising the children in the U.S. because he was unable to return to China due to the illegal surrogacy. The source revealed that Mr. Zheng had not fulfilled his parenting responsibilities.

Jung released a statement saying, ”I have no intention of running away from what I said,” but the criticism continued. The situation further worsened. From 19 to 20, he failed to declare his personal assets of approximately 4 billion yen and was found to have evaded taxes amounting to about 1 billion yen. It was also discovered that he had failed to declare about 3.3 billion yen in drama appearance fees.

The drama series starring Mr. Jung will be forced to cancel its broadcast. The drama’s production company sued Mr. Zheng for damages.’ In December 2009, the Chinese tax authorities ordered Mr. Zheng to pay about 1.9 billion yen in compensation.

The Chinese government considered Mr. Zheng’s behavior to be extremely malicious and ordered all relevant parties to stop broadcasting past productions in which he appeared and not to use him in future programs. Companies that had used Jung as their image character, such as fashion brands, are also terminating their contracts with him one after another. In effect, Jung has been banned from the entertainment industry.

Let us return to the allegations made at the beginning of this article. It would be a serious crime if Jung had declared bankruptcy instead of complying with the compensation order, despite the fact that she has a huge amount of assets hidden overseas. Zheng’s fall from the top actress position has been a muddled one. Officials not only in China but also abroad are closely watching the investigation into her.