A Taiwanese socialite was taken into custody yesterday for allegedly drugging and raping more than 60 models and actresses and even videotaping the assaults.
Justin Lee, 27, the heir to one of Taiwan's richest men and a frequent patron of the island's nightclubs, was taken to a detention house in Taipei pending further investigation of his alleged crimes, prosecutors said.
Lee, also known as Li Zongrui, was accused in July last year of drugging a young female model in a nightclub, taking her home, raping her and videotaping the entire act. But he was not arrested due to a lack of concrete evidence.
As more accusations emerged against him this year, prosecutors said police searched his apartment and found explicit video files on his computer and cell phone involving more than 60 women, at least 40 of them models and celebrities. Prosecutors then summoned Lee for questioning, and placed him on a wanted list on August 1 after he repeatedly failed to show up to help the investigation, they said.
On Thursday, Lee, the son of former Yuanta Financial Holding board member Lee Yue-chang, turned himself in to police after being on the run for 23 days, prosecutors said.
"We have asked that the suspect be placed in the detention house on the grounds that he could flee abroad," Taipei District Prosecutors Office spokesman Huang Mou-hsin said.
Huang said Lee had denied ever drugging or raping any women. He said that Lee insisted that all the sexual activities with the women were consensual, as was the filming, and that he did not circulate the photographs and videos.
But a police source said that on the video files and pictures found in Lee's apartment, at least 20 women looked unconscious and did not appear to be aware that they were being filmed.
If found guilty of drugging and raping the women, Lee could face at least seven years' jail, and he could also face jail terms of up to five years for releasing the videos and photos, court officials said.
Some of the videos and photos were recently found circulating in Taiwan, police said, adding that they had arrested two men on August 18 for allegedly spreading photographs of Lee and several female celebrities on the internet.
Prosecutors also warned yesterday that anyone distributing the photographs or videos could be jailed for two to five years.
In one respect the circulation of the photographs and videos is reminiscent of the Edison Chen Koon-hei photo scandal that rocked the Hong Kong entertainment industry in 2008 after private photographs of the Hong Kong actor having sex with a number of celebrities were leaked. However, there was never any suggestion the sex was anything other than consensual.
This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Socialite faces claims he raped 60 women
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