A Premier League owner has found himself at the centre of an alleged £900m sex tape blackmail plot – with his reported Chinese lover claimed to have demanded half of his wealth
A Premier League owner was the alleged victim of a £900million sex tape blackmail plot involving a reported Chinese lover almost two decades younger than him.
According to prosecutors, private equity investor Wesley Edens, 64, who is the billionaire owner of Aston Villa through company V Sports, was told by businesswoman Changli Luo to pay her half of his £1.8billion fortune – or she would go public about their fling.
Luo, 46, allegedly warned the US businessman, who co-founded Fortress Investment Group and founded New Fortress Energy, that she would destroy him. She allegedly told Edens she had multiple cameras in her apartment where they had sex and if he did not pay, she would tell his business partners and family.
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Edens and Luo are said to have met in 2022, after the Villa owner’s divorce, when she messaged him on LinkedIn at first in a professional capacity.
According to US prosecutors, demands started when Edens, who also co-owns NBA franchise Milwaukee Bucks, ignored her love letter after a sexual encounter at her New York home in June 2023.
Luo wrote to Edens: “I never told you I love you, and tonight I want to tell you that, I have been restraining my feeling [sic] for you, as I do love you from the bottom of my heart!”
She is then said to have threatened to leak photos and videos of them having sex. After mediation talks, Edens is said to have agreed to pay Luo £4.7m. However, she is claimed to have upped her demands to £900m after alleging Edens gave her HPV, a sexually-transmitted infection.
Prosecutors say FBI agents raided Luo’s apartment in May last year and discovered a phone hidden in a laundry basket and another in a box of sanitary pads, containing adult films with Edens’ face edited onto the body of another man.
She was arrested last year at JFK Airport while attempting to board a flight to China and was released to house arrest on $500,000 (£433,000) bail.
Luo denies four charges including blackmail and destruction of records – and her lawyers claim her previous legal team were overly aggressive with their previous demands.
Edens was part of a consortium that purchased a 55% controlling stake in Aston Villa worth £30m in 2018 – when the Midlanders were in the Championship.
He is also part of a consortium that has a 46% stake worth €5m in Portuguese Primeira Liga team Vitória S.C.
And in 2014, Edens, alongside Marc Lasry, purchased NBA giants Milwaukee Bucks from Herb Kohl for $550m (£406m).