Chinese Actress Suspected Embezzling Earthquake Relief Funds
Chinese actress Zhang ziyi (Memoir of a Geisha, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon) is being questioned by Chinese public about the whereabouts of a large amount of money that Zhang claimed had been donated to her charity in 2008 at the Sichuan China earthquake relief event hosted by her at the Cannes Movie Festivals in France.
Zhang arrived in Cannes without an invitation from the festival to host a charity event to raise money to help victims of the 5.12 earthquake in Sichuan, China. Some famous names attended the event provided by Zhang's publicity included: Roberta Armani, Tamara Mellon, Moddona's manager Guy, Eric Mika, Thierry Fremaux, Christian Jeune, Chopard CEO Caroline Gruosi-Scheufele and Actor Christian Slater. (Names provided by Zhang's news release). Apparently several Chinese media were invited to the event but only one was appointed as the "official reports" -- sohu.com. It was reported by this web site that at least 1 million dollars in cash or checks were raised because "people were moved by Zhang's deep care and love to her country and her suffering people".
All money was to be put into Zhang's Ziyi Foundation founded in the USA. But it's not until recently that the Chinese public found out that not a penny of this money can be proved to have been used in helping the earthquake area.
In fact, the information about the Ziyi Foundation googled by the internet users in China shows that this foundation was founded in November, 2008 and had expired in May, 2009.
And during the 6 months of its existence, no money could been found transfering in or out of it. Several charity or earthquake relieve orgnizations that Zhang claimed that had been working together with her foundation or had received funds from her foundation have stated that no money from the so called Ziyi Foundation has been received.
A friend of Zhang's then boyfriend, American Vivi Nevo, told reporters that according to Nevo, this money and some more later raised by Zhang at a New York event had all been put in one of her personal bank accounts. Zhang's team has been promising to provide the public the financial reports of the Ziyi Foundation. But the promised date has been pushed back again and again. To this day, Zhang still hasn't provided any proof of this money ever being used in charity.
In a statement issued by Zhang about a week ago, Zhang said "it's a well known fact that at this kind of event, people only promise to donate a certain amount of money. The real money has to be collected later. I am still in the progress of collecting the money promised". This claim enraged the Chinese online community. The public felt they'd been made a fool of the first time she said she'd raised all those money to help the earthquake victims. Now they are lied to shamelessly again. Zhang's credit is in serious crisis now.
Chinese public really wants to know what happened at Zhang's Charity event. Did the people who attended the event, including those named above, really just "promised to donate a certain amount of money" but didn't follow through? If they really donated money and trusted Zhang to deliver their good will, they have a right to know that they had been lied to and their money has never reached the people they intended to help.
