The Associated Press

BEIJING – Actress Fan Bingbing is apologizing after tax authorities in her native China ordered the "X-Men" star to pay taxes and fines worth $130 million in order to avoid criminal prosecution.

The official Xinhua News Agency's announcement Wednesday ended months of speculation over the fate of the actress since she disappeared from public view in June amid reports she was being investigated for tax fraud.

“I am unworthy of the trust of the society and let down the fans who love me,” Fan wrote in the first update to official account on the social media site Weib.com since June 2.

She added that she accepts the tax authorities’ decision and would “try my best to overcome all difficulties and raise funds to pay back taxes and fines.”

Xinhua cited tax authorities as saying Fan would not be held criminally accountable as long as she paid the fines and taxes on time.

Their report gave no indication as to Fan's whereabouts but indicated her agent was being held by police for allegedly obstructing the investigation.

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The report described unpaid taxes, fines and late fees amounting to nearly 900 million yuan or more than $130 million.

The Xinhua report said Fan evaded 7.3 million yuan in taxes by using a secret contract worth 20 million yuan that she signed for starring in the Chinese film “Unbreakable Spirit.” She instead paid taxes on a contract for only 10 million yuan, it said.

The example refers to a reportedly common entertainment industry practice in which actors have a public contract stating an official salary and a private contract detailing their actual, much higher pay.

Her disappearance this summer coincided with a crackdown by the authorities on high salaries for actors that can eat up much of the cost of a production. In June, regulators capped star pay at 40 percent of a TV show’s entire production budget and 70 percent of the total paid to all the actors in a film.

Talk-show host Cui Yongyuan said in May that Fan had such an arrangement, which allegedly facilitates tax evasion, and revealed details that sparked a public outcry. Cui later apologized.

Chinese state media said the investigation served as a warning to anyone working in the country’s arts and entertainment. A separate Xinhua report said the penalties issued to Fan would promote the “sustainable and healthy development of the film and television industry and raise social awareness on paying taxes according to the law.”

Hu Xijin, editor of the Global Times tabloid known for its nationalist pro-Communist Party opinions, said, “Fan’s case must be shaking the performing arts world.”

People who try to evade taxes now will have to cough them up sooner or later, Hu wrote on his social media page. “The bigger the brand, the more likely you are to attract scrutiny. Just suffer this financial loss to be spared greater disaster; moreover, these are ill-gotten gains.”

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