Chinese superstar Fan Bingbing, who has been at the centre of a storm over unpaid taxes, is said to be at liberty after a period of government detention.
Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post, citing unnamed sources, reported on Thursday that Fan has returned to Beijing after an unspecified period of “residential detention”.
The paper reported that Fan had been held at a “holiday resort” near Wuxi, in Jiansu Province, that has been previously used to interrogate errant Communist Party officials.
Fan disappeared from public view in June and from social media at the beginning of July after being accused of tax fraud by a fellow celebrity.
He used social media to publish copies of contracts which he alleged were evidence of tax evasion.
On Wednesday, China’s tax authorities announced that Fan would have to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in back taxes, fines and other penalties.
Fan herself then re-emerged on social media to make an abject apology.
Despite the enormity of the sums involved, Fan is expected to be able to avoid criminal prosecution if she pays up promptly.