"I'm so ashamed of what I've done. Here, I sincerely apologize to everyone"
X-Men actress Fan Bingbing has been ordered to pay $130 million for tax offences to avoid criminal prosecution.
SCMP reports that X-Men: Days of Future Past actress Fan Bingbing has been charged $130 million for tax offences. If she fails to pay the fine, she will be incarcerated.
In August, Fan made headlines for disappearing amidst a tax investigation surrounding the actress. The investigation was completed two weeks ago and Fan was released from “residential surveillance at a designated location.”
She was kept at a “holiday resort” in Jiangsu used to investigate officials before being transferred to authorities in Beijing.
Tax authorities suspected Fan was using a fraudulent dual-contract system to evade taxes, in which the actress would sign different contracts for the same job but for different fees. The lower fee contract would be submitted to tax authorities.
255 million yuan worth of taxes were underpaid by Fan and her companies including 200 million yuan of tax evasion.
The 37-year-old actress was fined 479 million yuan (US$70 million) and ordered to pay over 288 million yuan in unpaid taxes. Her companies were fined 125 million yuan.
She was fined more than 479 million yuan (about US$70 million) personally and ordered to pay more than 288 million yuan in unpaid taxes, and her companies were fined a total of 125 million yuan.
As the Chinese actress was a first-time offender, she would not face criminal charges if she paid the fine by a certain deadline.
On Wednesday, Fan posted an open apology on her Weibo account saying, “I’ve been suffering unprecedented pain recently… I’m so ashamed of what I’ve done. Here, I sincerely apologize to everyone.”