'Sunflower Queen' allegedly involved in prostitution ring
2015/10/28 16:39:33
Taipei, Oct. 28 (CNA) Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a woman who shot to fame during a huge student protest last year, is under investigation for her involvement in a cross-border prostitution ring and has been barred from leaving the country.
Liou, whose beauty and sexy attire earned her the nickname "Sunflower Queen" during the Sunflower Movement in early 2014, allegedly introduced women in Taiwan to a ring that enlists women for prostitution in the United States, according to investigators.
She was picked up by police and brought to the Taipei District Prosecutors Office for questioning Tuesday night and was then released Wednesday morning on NT$50,000 (US$1,550) bail, prosecutors said Wednesday. She is not allowed to leave the country.
Because some of the women said they were not working of their own free will and had been threatened, the investigation has proceeded based on the suspicion that Liou and others violated the Human Trafficking Prevention Act.
In addition to Liou, other models and female entertainers are said to be implicated in the prostitution scheme.
Reports said U.S. authorities informed Taiwan of the ring's existence through the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), the de facto U.S. embassy in Taiwan in the absence of diplomatic ties.
The ring's suspected mastermind Tai Chun-yi (戴君儀) was released on NT$500,000 bail and another suspect surnamed Chung (鍾) was released on NT$200,000 bail.
It was not Liou's first brush with controversy since participating in the Sunflower Movement, which occupied the Legislative Yuan for about three weeks in March and April 2014 to protest a trade-in-services agreement between Taiwan and China that the Legislature was in the process of reviewing.
According to local media, she admitted in December 2014 to having worked as a high-priced escort after tabloid Next Magazine (壹週刊) said she may have solicited money for sex.
Meanwhile, when asked about the case, AIT official Joseph Bookbinder said he would not comment on individual cases, but he did say that Taiwan and the United States work together to fight crime.
(By Page Tsai, Tang Pei-chun and Lilian Wu)
