Fugitive Taiwanese blogger repatriated on suspicion of fraud

Taipei, May 1 (CNA) Famous Taiwanese blogger Lady Nai Nai (貴婦奈奈), who had been listed as wanted for alleged fraud, was escorted back to Taiwan on Thursday after being on the run in Canada for over six years.

The blogger, whose real name is Su Chen Tuan (蘇陳端), was escorted on a flight from Canada by a legal secretary from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Canada, Taiwan's de facto representative office.

Upon arrival at Taoyuan International Airport at 5 a.m. Thursday, Su was swarmed by reporters, but she did not answer any questions or make any comments.

According to Taiwan authorities, she was transferred to the Taipei District Prosecutors Office at 1:18 p.m.

Su had been on the run since 2019, after Taiwan law enforcement authorities listed her as wanted for suspected fraud.

The allegations arose after she and her ex-boyfriend Huang Po-chien (黃博健) closed their cosmetic clinic in Taiwan in 2018 without notice and without dealing with solvency issues such as debts.

The couple then fled to Canada, along with Huang's parents Huang Lin Li-chen (黃林麗貞) and Huang Li-hsiung (黃立雄), who was the nominee director of the clinic and was also listed as wanted in 2019.

According to the Investigation Bureau, its legal secretaries stationed in the United States and Canada had been pursuing the case in collaboration with Taiwan's representative offices in Ottawa and Toronto.

The four suspects had been seeking political asylum in Canada but were unsuccessful. Huang Li-hsiung and Huang Lin then contacted Taiwan's representative offices in Canada, which led to their arrest in May 2024, the bureau said.

Huang Lin was not indicted and was released without bail, while Huang Li-hsiung was released on bail of NT$500,000 (US$15,589) and is still being investigated, the bureau said.

Su Chen recently wrote a letter to the media and handed in a statement to prosecutors to express her willingness to return to Taiwan to cooperate with the investigation.

She stated that she did not take part in the clinic run by the Huangs nor in any illegal affairs. She therefore wished to assist prosecutors with the case and shed light on the matter.

Su Chen rose to fame in the early 2000s, when she started blogging about the love story between her and Huang Po-chien and writing her personal reflections on everyday life under the name Lady Nai Nai.

Before her blog closed down in 2013, it had accumulated more than 46 million views. In 2017, her Facebook page had more than 300,000 followers.