Kris Wu‘s rise to global stardom in the 2010s seemed unstoppable. The Chinese-born Canadian pop star made his name as a member of the K-pop group EXO before returning to China in 2014 and launching a stratospheric solo career. Now that’s all come crashing down around him, as a Beijing court has found him guilty of multiple crimes, including rape, and has sentenced him to 13 years behind bars.
Wu—also known as Wu Yifan—was found to have raped three women between November and December 2020, with the Chaoyang court’s official WeChat account confirming:
“Wu Yifan took advantage of three drunken women…at his home.”
Wu was first detained in Beijing on July 31, 2021 after a then-18-year-old Chinese student went public with bombshell allegations that he’d forced her and other girls to have sex with him. She alleged that, at the age of 17, he’d provided alcohol to them with the intent of having nonconsensual sex.
Along with the rape charges, Wu was also convicted of the crime of “assembling a crowd to engage in sexual promiscuity in July 2018” and was also ordered to pay 600m Yuan (approximately $69 million) for concealing his personal income through domestic and foreign companies and underpaying his taxes.
Wu will now face 13 years behind bars in China, and the court has said he’ll be deported to Canada, which will take place once he’s completed his sentence.
More on this story as details emerge.
