Three months ago, the highest paid actress disappeared in China. The tax authorities issued her a multimillion -dollar account - and she was immediately found

In September 2018, the Western media began to write that one of the most famous Chinese actresses - Fan Binbin disappeared. The last time the actress appeared in public on July 1, and the last entry in her blog on the Chinese social network Weibo was published on July 2. Three more weeks later, several posts were bent from her account; These were the latest actions by Fan Binbin on social networks.

Prior to this, the actress regularly appeared at official events (for example, at the Cannes Film Festival ), was the heroine of the glossy press, starred in advertising campaigns of luxury stamps like Louis Vuitton or De Beers. In May 2018, it became known that Fan would withdraw in the American spy thriller “355” with the women's composition-along with Jessica Chastein, Penelop Cruz, Lupita Niongo and Marion Cototiyar. Prior to this, her most famous international project was “X -Men: the Days of the Past the Future”, where Fan played the mutant blink. It is not surprising that with so many contracts, she headed a list of the highest paid Chinese celebrities for four years.

Since the summer of 2018, in the Chinese press, the actress began to write mainly in a negative way. The reason for the publications was a tax scandal in the Chinese film industry: a popular Chinese TV presenter Tsui Yunuan published two contracts, allegedly signed by Fan Binbin (her name did not appear in the documents). One of them indicated a fee of $ 1.6 million in four days of filming in a Chinese film, in the second - 7.8 million for the same work. It was about a double contract - a scheme that, according to rumors, was often used by highly paid Chinese actors and actresses to get away from high taxes.

Publications came against the backdrop of toughening state policy regarding the earnings of Chinese celebrities. As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, in June 2018, several regulatory Chinese authorities signed a decree that the earnings of popular actors should not exceed 40% of the total budget of the picture - and amount to no more than 70% of the total fee of all actors participating in the film. These measures were ideological in nature: according to their initiators, celebrities, like Fan Binbin, set a bad example of Chinese youth and “contributed to the all kinds of money.”

As a result, the authorities opened a case of tax evasion against the actress. Chinese tabloids wrote that Fan Binbin fled to the United States and was seen in the immigration office in Los Angeles. In September, in the Chinese State Media, Securities Daily published a note that the actress was “kept under control” of the authorities and “she is waiting for an official decision”. A few hours later, the publication was deleted.

On October 3, the China tax service announced that Fan Binbin owed the Millions of Yuan (including fines for taxes not paid on time). According to the estimates of the Chinese news agency Xinhua, the total amount is $ 70 million; The agency later increased the amount to 116 million.

A few hours later, Fan Binbin was unexpectedly found - she commented on the situation on her page in Weibo. The actress wrote that she pleads her guilt, ashamed of his deed and asks for forgiveness from her country. “I am incredibly worried about the mistakes that I made! - wrote Fan. - I failed my country, a society that believed me and supported me, and my loyal fans! .. I beg you all about forgiveness! ” The actress added that she could never succeed if it were not for the support of the Chinese people and the policy of the Chinese Communist Party.

In her statement, Fan Binbin promised to find money to pay off all tax debt. According to Variety, the participation of Fan Binbin in the shooting "355" is now in question.

Olga Strachovskaya