Guo admits to life of vice, gambling
Print Edition
A YOUNG woman who created a scandal flaunting her lavish lifestyle while claiming to work for the Red Cross Society of China confessed yesterday that she actually made her money through prostitution and gambling.
Guo Meimei became a notorious figure back in 2011 after posting Paris Hilton-style pictures of herself with designer clothes and accessories and sports cars.
The Chinese public was outraged because Guo claimed she could afford these luxury items working as a manager with the RCSC.
While it was quickly established that she had no links to the RCSC, the non-government organization’s reputation was damaged.
The 23-year-old was detained by Beijing police last month after she was caught betting on World Cup matches.
Yesterday, in an interview with China Central Television, a tearful Guo admitted organizing gambling events and working as a prostitute.
“During my detention, I recalled what I’d done over these past years and felt so much regret. After I am freed, I won’t go gambling, flaunt wealth or do illegal things. I will behave well,” Guo said.
She has not been charged.
Someone convicted of organizing gambling sessions or opening casinos faces up to 10 years in jail.
Police said Guo made more than 60 gambling trips to Macau, Hong Kong and neighboring countries.
At the end of 2012, Guo met an expat professional gambler in a Macau casino. They began a relationship in Beijing and opened an underground casino in February, 2013, police said.
Guo’s assistant, surnamed Lu, rented an apartment in the Chaoyang District of the city for a monthly rent of 19,000 yuan (US$3,074) which was fitted out with gambling tables, pile of chips and POS machines, she told CCTV.
“Her foreign boyfriend and his Chinese partner held the first card game. Guo made around 70,000 yuan, which didn’t satisfy her. She said: ‘It’s better for women to rule the roost. I will organize the next game.’” Lu told CCTV.
After that, it is claimed that Guo took charge, hiring staff and inviting gamblers by phone and social media — and taking commission of between 3 to 5 percent.
Police claim as each event involved more than 1 million yuan in bets.
One Beijing gambler, surnamed Zhu, accused Guo of intimidating him when he couldn’t cover his losses.
Zhu said she pestered him to play but when he lost 400,000 yuan in two hours, she turned nasty because he couldn’t pay.
“I said I didn’t want to play any longer and told her I’d give her the money another day. But she said no, and wanted the money,” he told CCTV.
Zhu was held at the casino until dawn, then forced to write an IOU before being accompanied back to his company to get money.
“She was evil,” Zhu added.
During police interrogation, Guo told police that most of her income came from her gambling “night shows,” which brought her 50,000 yuan a time.
But police said that there were only around 20 such gambling nights and that other “events” involved selling sex.
“Through various channels, from online chatting to introductions from friends, she was involved in the sex trade. Every time, she charged hundreds of thousands of yuan,” a police official was quoted saying in police statement.
“Being famous is always good, many men don’t care how much money they have to pay as long as they can sleep with me,” said Guo told CCTV.
Police said Guo told them that she went from Beijing to the southern province of Guangdong to meet a man for sex. For this she was paid 160,000 yuan and HK$300,000 (US$38,709) in cash.
“She often said she was going to other places to perform,” Guo’s assistant Lu told CCTV. “When we arrived, strange men would pick us up in the airport, and that night she would stay in a room with them. When I packed her luggage the next morning, I would find bundles of cash,” Lu said.
Back in 2011, Guo claimed that the Hermes bags and Lamborghini and Maserati sports cars she flaunted online were due to her job with “Red Cross Commerce” — a made-up RCSC operation, it later emerged.
In fact, her designer lifestyle was funded by 46-year-old Wang Jun, former board member of Zhonghong Bo’ai Asset Management Co, police said.
“In August, 2010, I asked a friend to introduce me to a girl, and met Guo,” Wang told CCTV.
“After she flew from Beijing to Shenzhen, I arranged a hotel room and had sex with her the next day. At that time, she asked me for 30,000 yuan.”
“After that, she would fly to Shenzhen whenever she needed money. I gave her 50,000 yuan every time,” Wang said.
He said he also gave her 2.4 million yuan for a sports car.
“She knew that I had wife and children. What she wanted was my money and what I wanted was her youth,” Wang said.
Wang helped when Guo said she wanted to be the executive of a charity project.
He liaised with the Red Cross Society for Commerce Sector, a group founded in 2000 by the China General Chamber of Commerce with the approval of the RCSC.
In May 2011, Guo made up the title as a general manager of the Red Cross Commerce.
However, she was soon at the center of a media storm and public outrage.
“Being involved with her turned into a nightmare,” Wang said.
Wang was detained by Beijing police on July 24 over unspecified offences.
Following the scandal with Guo, the RCSC was dogged with accusations of corruption — even though she had no links with the charity — and donations fell.
In her CCTV interview, Guo apologized to the RCSC.
“My relatives, friends, ex-boyfriend and I are not RCSC officials. I didn’t know any RCSC officials. I made a big mistake because of vanity, causing the RCSC’s reputation to be damaged.”
“Today, I took the chance to clarify this, to tell the truth and return justice to the RCSC,” Guo said.
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