China’s highest-paid actress, Fan Bingbing has disappeared from the public eyes for more than 2 months due to allegations of tax evasion.
The 36-year-old actress who was usually active on social media has gone dark online as well,. Her last Instagram post was in late May while her last Weibo activity was in early June and last public appearance was in early July.
According to various reports, the actress is currently under house arrest at a secret location in Beijing and she is reportedly banned from acting for 3 years.
This is due to the Fan’s salary and tax evasion scandal which began in May when a former TV presenter for state-run China Central Television (CCTV), Cui Yongyuan, posted some documents online which suggested that she was being paid through 2 different contracts for work on the same film.
The case is known as the “yin-yang contracts” which means that Fan only declared one of the contracts to authorities while the other is kept secret. The film in question was “Cell Phone 2” which Fan allegedly had a contract for 10 million yuan ($1.45mil) and another one for 50 million yuan ($17mil).
Fan’s representatives have denied the allegations and claim that the actress was the victim of “slander” yet the did not dispute on the authenticity of documents that were released by Cui.
It has also been reported that Fan’s name has been removed from publicity for Chinese war film “Unbreakable Spirit”, starring Bruce Willis and Adrien Brody, which was supposedly slated to be released in China this month, but has been pushed to October instead.
It is unclear whether Fan’s acting ban only apply in China or does it also include international films since the actress has already been cast in “355,” an all-female action movie produced by Jessica Chastain.
Fan is currently being monitored 24 hours a day at the Beijing house arrest, and her situation was described as harshly devoid of freedom.
Sources: Variety, HKFP, Today Online
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