A Beijing court has just sentenced pop star Kris Wu to 13 years in prison following shocking allegations of rape.
The Chinese-born singer, also known as Wu Yifan, was arrested late last year after he was accused of raping three women in November and December 2020.
Wu, who also holds Canadian nationality, had built a successful music career in China over the past few years.
The court, based in the country's Chaoyang district, wrote on its official WeChat account that: "Wu Yifan took advantage of three drunken women … at his home," per The Guardian.
The 32-year-old was once part of the South Korean-Chinese K-Pop group Exo, which was formed in 2011. In 2014, Wu returned to China to pursue a successful solo career that included acting and modeling in addition to singing. The following year he became the youngest celebrity to have a wax figure in Madame Tussauds in Shanghai and was even named Newcomer of the Year by Esquire China.
Wu's career and reputation came crashing down in July 2021, however, when he was detained after an 18-year-old Chinese student - Du Meizhu - publicly claimed that he forced her and other girls, some of them younger than 18, to have sex with him, Reuters reported.
The student further elaborated on her experience with Wu to the media, accusing him of giving her alcohol and inducing her to have sex with him when she was just 17.
The court sentenced Wuto 11 years and six months for raping Meizhu and two other women at his home in 2020 "when they were drunk and did not know or not able to resist," per the BBC.
He also received an additional 10 months for "gathering people to commit adultery", the court added.
Wu - who resided in Canada on and off from the age of 10 - was also accused of evading 95m yuan ($13.2 million) tax between 2019 to 2020 by hiding personal income through domestic and foreign businesses, The Guardian detailed. He has also been accused of evading underpaid taxes of up to 84 million yuan ($11.7 million).
As a result of these offences, Wu was ordered by the court to pay 600 million yuan ($83.7 million).
The singer was fortunate enough to have been an ambassador for numerous global fashion brands - including Bulgari, Lancome, and Louis Vuitton - who have all since cut ties with him.
Per Reuters, the court stated that Wu can be deported back to Canada - as he is no longer a Chinese citizen. However, lawyers in China have since said that these deportations generally occur after the sentence has been served.