Woman 'blackmailed billionaire for £3m by threatening to tell his wife he made her pregnant'

One of the world’s wealthiest property tycoons was blackmailed by a woman who falsely claimed she was pregnant by him and threatened to tell his wife unless he paid her £3million, a court heard.



Fuk Wu, 39, told the billionaire, who owns several acres of prime real estate in London’s West End, that she would go to the press if he did not pay up, it is claimed.



She also told him that she would ask his wife what she should name the baby unless he either paid her in cash or bought her a luxury flat, jurors were told.



Accused: Fuk Wu, 39, is charged with blackmailing the billionaire property magnate

Giving evidence at Southwark Crown Court, the alleged victim said that he had never had sexual relations with her.



The businessman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said he had given Wu a job assisting his London and Geneva operations in April 2006 after being impressed by her ‘talent for business’.



She was paid a basic salary of around £50,000, with extra payments from business expenses, the court heard.



The alleged victim, who is in his 70s, told the jury that he owned hotels and office space in London, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Switzerland, and regularly completed ‘multi-

billion pound’ property deals.



He said Wu had proved herself a ‘top dog’ in the business, working as part of his teams of personal assistants. But he said that in a breakfast meeting towards the end of 2008, she told him she was pregnant and that he was ‘responsible.’



He said she demanded that he either buy her a flat for 15million Hong Kong dollars, or pay her a ‘lump sum’ of £3million.



He said that she had ‘threatened’ that her mother and father would confront him in public at his Hong Kong office if he did not agree to her demands.



‘It was also in the realm of threatening my wife, saying that she would tell her.



‘[She said] she would tell my wife and ask her to name the baby.’



Cross-examining him, Wu’s barrister, Paul Purnell QC, suggested that the truth was that he had had an affair with Wu.



Mr Purnell said: ‘Our case is that you have been carrying out a campaign, a malevolent campaign, against your ex-mistress Madam Wu.’



He told the court that instead of giving her a job as he claimed after interviewing her in Garfunkel’s restaurant in Victoria Station, the tycoon had in fact contacted Wu after seeing an advertisement in a Chinese newspaper – in which she advertised herself as a potential bride in search of a husband.



The complainant denied this, and insisted he had hired her after she impressed him in interview.



Mr Purnell also suggested that the man had given Wu a gift of £1million on Valentine’s Day, 2007.



Wu denies blackmail and attempted fraud by false representation between December 1, 2008, and February 1, 2009.



The trial continues.