Fan Bingbing, one of China’s most famous and highest paid actors, has been fined for tax evasion, state media reported Wednesday. This is the first public pronouncement about the star since she mysteriously disappeared from public view in June. The actress mysteriously disappeared without a trace amid an uproar over tax evasion by celebrities.
Since coming back into the limelight, Fan has been ordered to pay $129 million after she misreported how much money she had received for certain film projects. Because Fan is a first time offender, she will escape criminal charges if the fines are paid on time.
Fan is one of many actors who have used so-called “yin-yang contracts” — a practice where one contract sets out an actor’s real earnings and another details a lower figure, with the latter submitted to the tax authorities — to hide her true remuneration and avoid millions of dollars in taxes.
In a letter posted on social media, Fan apologized to the public and government.
“As a public figure, I should have abided by laws and regulations, and been a role model in the industry and society,” Fan said. “I shouldn’t have lost self-restraint or become lax in managing (my companies), which led to the violation of laws, in the name of economic interests.”
Fan also admitted to signing the yin-yang contracts and said she “completely accepts” the decision by tax authorities.
“Without the favorable polices of the Communist Party and state, without the love of the people, there would have been no Fan Bingbing,” Fan said.
By: Maytinee Kramer
