A man has confessed to defrauding ex-EXO member Kris Wu, adding a new twist to the latter’s ongoing controversy for alleged predatory behaviour. The man has been arrested by Beijing police.

The police in Beijing’s Chaoyang district, who are responsible for handling Wu’s case, announced yesterday (July 22) on its official Weibo account that they had arrested a 23-year-old man for attempting to defraud Wu and his family. The man, who was only identified by the surname Liu, was arrested in Nantong City, near Shanghai, on July 18.

According to Beijing police, Liu initially posed as a woman who had been in a relationship with Wu in order to get close to Du Meizhu, Wu’s rumoured ex-girlfriend, in order to obtain information about Du and Wu’s relationship.

In June 2021, Du alleged that Wu had date-raped her when she was 17 years old, and also accused the singer of infidelity and preying on underage girls. Wu has denied these claims.

In their Weibo post, the police claim that Liu had first impersonated Wu’s lawyer on July 10 in order to reach a settlement with Du for RMB3,000,000 ($463,400), although no official agreement was signed. On July 11, Liu reportedly blackmailed Wu’s mother into transferring RMB500,000 ($77,200) to Du. Liu then posed as Du to request Wu’s lawyer for the remaining RMB2,500,000 ($386,200).

Liu, while impersonating Wu’s lawyer, later requested Du to sign the settlement agreement, failing which she would have to return the RMB500,000 that Wu’s mother had sent her. When Du agreed to return the money, Liu instead allegedly handed her his own bank details; she subsequently sent Liu RMB180,000 ($27,800).

The police arrested Liu after an investigation into a report that Wu’s mother had filed on July 14, in which she claimed that she had been blackmailed by Du. Liu, the police said, has confessed to the fraud scheme. The police did not implicate Du in the scheme.

In the Weibo post, the police also stated that investigations into allegations made against Wu are still ongoing.

According to the police announcement, Du and Wu had met during a gathering at the latter’s home in December 2020, where they had sexual intercourse and subsequently kept in contact until April 2021. It is unclear if the December 2020 incident mentioned in the post was the one at the centre of Du’s recent date-rape allegations against Wu.

The police also noted that Du had worked with two others – a close friend also named Liu (a 19-year-old woman) as well as a 31-year-old writer called Xu – on various posts about Wu in order to gain online popularity.

Earlier this week, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV and the Communist Youth League of China issued statements about the allegations against Wu. The former called for a “comprehensive investigation” into the controversy, while the latter said that it was “really concerned… about fairness and justice in a society with rule of law”.

Several brands have also terminated their partnerships with Wu over his alleged predatory behaviour. Among them are luxury labels such as Bulgari and Louis Vuitton.