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Chinese Sex Video Extortion Scam Leads To 10 More Officials Being Fired
10 more government and Communist Party officials in the Chinese city of Chongqing have been fired for their role in a huge sex and corruption and scandal, China's state news agency Xinhua reports.
Members of the sex exhortation ring behind the scandal have been arrested, Xinhua reports.
The scandal made headlines around the world last year when a video of one local party boss, Lei Zhengfu, having sex with his 18-year-old mistress was widely circulated around the internet. Lei, somewhat understandably, was fired.
The Lei video was soon revealed to be part of a wider scandal — Lei was apparently being blackmailed by a local developer as he had become too rich for simple bribes. Worse still, he wasn't the only one. The local journalist who broke the story has said he had five more videos to release.
China’s Southern Metropolis Daily reports that the man behind the extortion ring, Chongqing businessman Xiao Ye, is thought to have snared at least a dozen Chongqing officials with his “honey trap” tactic. The South China Morning Post reports that not all netizens are angry with Xiao. “Xiao is an anti-corruption hero,” said one, “Why arrest him?”
Chongqing, one of China's largest cities, was also the home of the now-notorious Bo Xilai, and many observers wonder if there was a link between Bo and the scandal. Many reports say that police had known about the videos for years, but they only became public knowledge due to the work of a local journalist. "The fall of Bo Xilai and Wang Lijun seem to have something to do with" how the videos emerged, Steve Tsang, an expert on Chinese politics at the University of Nottingham, told the Guardian.
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