China ordered one of its top actresses and her associated companies to pay about 884 million yuan ($129 million) in taxes and fines, capping a months-long tax evasion probe that shook the nation’s blossoming entertainment industry.
Fan Bingbing was personally fined about $70 million, with the remainder involving back taxes and fines against companies affiliated with the star, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Wednesday. In the first post in months on her Weibo social media account, Fan, 37, said she was deeply ashamed of her crimes and apologized to tax authorities and the public.
China’s pursuit of one of its biggest stars serves as a warning to a burgeoning entertainment industry that analysts predict will overtake the U.S. as the world’s biggest movie box office in the coming years. The stiff penalties also suggest the government won’t ease scrutiny of a highly regulated business in which the Communist Party weighs in on everything from costumes to talent pay.
“Everyone is equal before the law, there is no ‘superstar’ or ‘rich and powerful,’ no one can despise the law and hope to be lucky,” Xinhua said in a separate commentary about the case.
The 37-year-old actress, who has more than 60 million followers on the Twitter-like Weibo, had vanished from public view and on social media since June. That’s after a former broadcaster took to Weibo to publish what he described as contracts Fan and others have used to avoid taxes.
This is also a year in which China’s government has introduced business tax reforms to boost the economy, only to see revenue slump. Premier Li Keqiang last month said tax receipts will see a relatively large decline in the second half.
The scale of the fines and taxes, almost three times her 2017 income as estimated by Forbes magazine, are likely to reverberate, given her popularity and star power within the country’s entertainment community and luxury goods makers.
Fan earned 300 million yuan last year, topping the Forbes China Celebrity List, whose rankings factor in income and popularity. Along with big film and television roles, she is also known as a celebrity endorser of top luxury brands including Cartier, Chopard, Mercedes-Benz, L’Oreal and Louis Vuitton.
Fan had been named a judge at the Cannes film festival and appeared there in May to promote “355” with peers Jessica Chastain, Marion Cotillard, Penélope Cruz and Lupita Nyong’o -- a female spy blockbuster she swiftly dropped out of following the tax allegations.
The Chinese star’s return to Weibo to apologize and vow to “overcome difficulties” to pay the taxes and fines, caps a period in which Fan had not been heard from on social media nor reported seen in public. The absence spurred speculation she was being held by authorities, who made no announcements regarding her status.