A US model flew to Taiwan to sue a Taiwanese man for allegedly using his photos to lure up to 20 women into sex and defraud others.
“I am shocked. How could he do such a thing?” Richie Kul, 29, told reporters in Taipei yesterday. “Violating the copyright of my photo is a small thing. What is serious is his using my photos to cheat women. My heart goes out to all the victims.”
Kul said he learned about the Taiwanese man’s activity after a friend visited Taiwan and read the news.
“Many friends told me not to come to Taiwan [to file the lawsuit], but I insisted on coming here because I don’t want a repeat of the crime,” the Chinese-language Apple Daily quoted him as saying.
It is not clear when Kul will file the lawsuit and how much in damages he will seek from the alleged Taiwanese swindler.
Kul is the son of a Chinese-American father and a Chinese-Thai mother.
He was born in Thailand, but emigrated to the US when he was two years old.
After graduating from Stanford University, he worked as an investment banker before taking up fashion modeling in 2004.
The Taiwanese man who used Kul’s photos to lure women, Hsu Hsien-ming (許顯名), 50, a divorcee and stock-market analyst, was arrested on Nov. 13 in Taipei.
Hsu posted photos of Kul online and used the images to lure women.
Going under the name Angor, he introduced himself as the 30-year-old son of a Taiwanese father and French mother.
He said he was on business in the US, but looking to marry a Taiwanese woman.
However, “Angor” would not consider marrying a woman unless she was prepared to have sex with his father — whom Hsu portrayed, claiming to have terminal prostate cancer and requiring constant sex to say alive.
One hundred women, ages 28 to 50, were drawn in by the scheme, about 20 of whom went on to have sex with Hsu.
Others sent money to help with breast cancer surgery for Angor’s mother, who did not exist.
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