Wong Hei Raising Money to Help Pay Stephen Chan’s Legal Fees
Earlier, Wong Hei revealed that he became overweight due to frequent consumption of good friend, Stephen Chan Chi Wan’s delicious home-cooked meals. As a result, he became a spokesperson for a weight loss company and lost twenty-six pounds. Recently, Wong Hei has been frequenting tanning salons to achieve a bronze skin color. He invited the pale-skinned Mr. Chan to join him at the tanning salon in order to change his luck. The two men will help each other and share everything. Wong Hei joked that he needed to make more money in order to help out Mr. Chan more.
TVB General Manager, Stephen Chan is currently undergoing trial for corruption allegations. Good friend, Wong Hei vowed to accompany Mr. Chan throughout the ordeal. Wong Hei is willing to sell his house to raise money to pay Mr. Chan’s legal fees. Aside from filming TVB sitcom, Some Day <天天天晴>, Wong Hei has been busy accepting side jobs, which included endorsements of a men’s slimming center and a tanning salon. Each job offered a six-figure endorsement fee.
When reporters asked Wong Hei about Mr. Chan’s current status, he said, “Mr. Chan is fine. He has a lot of things to do, things which can not be discussed publicly.” (There were recent rumors that Lee Ka Kit was interested in acquiring TVB?) Wong Hei responded, “These are top-secret matters; I would not know about them!”
Excerpt from Sudden Weekly #792
Jayne: In any litigation between a large corporation versus an individual, money often drives the outcome. Will Stephen Chan continue to be able to afford to pay large legal fees, while he is on administrative leave? Even if Mr. Chan continues to receive his paycheck, as some tabloids suggest, that is probably not enough money to pay for his lawyers.
Earlier, Mr. Chan did some work for a radio station, likely to earn some money to pay for the trial. Now there is news that Wong Hei intends to work hard and possibly sell his house to raise more money. It’s only been a few weeks since the trial started, how will Mr. Chan continue to afford to hang on?!
Are they in a relationship? It seems to be dedication beyond that of a very good friend. I would assume the picture above is photoshopped?
^ The pic is not photoshop… its all over HK news even on television.
Its seems their in a “Brookeback” relationship. I hope Wong Hei’s image is not affected by Stephen Chan’s case.
I saw the picture first before reading the news and I didn’t read the title (just click on the responses). On first glance, it does not look like Wong Hei at all. Only after I figured out who he is based on the comments and the title, I can see the Wong Hei features. He changed a lot let.
As for their relationship, I just assume Wong Hei to be a very very very loyal friend who not only talk ‘yi hei’ but, prove it with his action or a person who always remembers people’s good deeds to him and pay leaps and bounds.
It is not photoshopped? Then that is one very funny picture based on Wong Hei’s expression. Kidd he looks like WOng Hei. You couldn’t recognise him?
I suppose this is a platonic yi hei chai sort of friendship but you know Wong Hei, for whatever reason he may be doing this is to me a good man for his loyalty but I hope his loyalty is not misplaced. If that man is guilty, he is guilty and Wong Hei should save himself by distancing away from criminals. Yes it is a victimless crime but nonetheless still a crime. Wong Hei shouldn’t be blinded by loyalty.
Larry, to tell you the truth I am very impressed with Wong Hei and his outspokenness and even more amazed he still has a job at TVB. So to me his image is enhanced. Some who thinks this guy is guilty may think Wong Hei is just dumb, for whatever reason for being dumb, but frankly this is such a cynical world and to have an actor who is sort of warring against his employer for a friend/lover/wife/husband/whatever their status is is to me very impressive.
Just wanna ask; you all think he was set up? Do you think he has a case to fight back?
Why I have the feeling that Wong Hei is trying very hard to gain publicity from this case? What the point of telling the press you will sell your house to get money for Stephen? He is trying too hard to show his loyalty.
I disagree that WH is trying to gain publicity. Maybe he’s just being honest or just want to show defiant? Or maybe he felt that by publicly and privately supporting Stephen, he would give Stephen comfort (knowing that he has a friend who stood by him steadfastly and not afraid to let everyone know). He has been supporting Stephen Chan and standing by him since day one. If he’s just doing it for show, he would have been tired out by now.
When the corruption news first broke out, everyone was distancing themselves from Stephen and giving the standard answer “I don’t know Stephen well” to the press. Only Wong Hei, Eric Tsang and 1 or 2 others who did not do so and Wong Hei was the strongest supporter.
I don’t think Wong He is doing this for publicity. He’s usually very low-key and could have taken more advantage in the past to get better publicity than to strongly stand by a man whom most people are now distancing themselves from. He is taking the risk of TVB’s management disliking his actions and other colleagues turning against him, which he obviously does not care. I think Stephen Chan was really supportive of Wong Hei in the past, and that is why he is showing his utmost support during these tough times. As I have mentioned before, Wong Hei does not have a lot of friends in the circle, but if he is your friend, he would be a very loyal and supportive one.
Regardless of what Stephen Chan may have done, legal or illegal… a friend is a friend. People make mistakes and you don’t just drop them because they affect your “image.” It is very commendable of him to help out his friend in need!
I like Wong He acting skill,,, I admire him even more after this,,, he is not just loyal, supportive and a true friend
Jayne,
What you said in the comment may be correct for civil litigation, but Stephen is being charged for corruption which means its the Prosecutions Division of the Department of Justice that’s suing him on behalf (you may say) of ICAC. There’s no big corporation in this picture. Even if he cannot afford the top lawyers, legal aid will provide for him- especially if he runs out of funds in the middle of a criminal trial.
This leaves only two possibilities: either that Stephen needs a gallery of top lawyers costing millions of dollars because he really has something (not necessarily criminal) to hide or the criminal justice system in HK enjoys concocting evidence to prosecute otherwise innocent people.
And just to clarify: have you ever heard of someone going broke defending a criminal charge? No because they simply just don’t go for that long, or I should rephrase, the Court won’t allow it to go for that long… even in complex commercial crimes.
SDS, yes and I can name one; OJ Simpson. Even Michael Jackson.
SDS,
Whenever I read news of someone get convicted, it’s usually for crimes that were done years ago. How is that not long? Those are not the exception but the norm. I seldom (if ever) read about a conviction for crime that was committed in the same year.
Funn, from the tabloids, it appears that Stephen’s lover/ boyfriend, Edthancy’s PR firm may have used Mr. Chan’s connection to over extend their reach and pushed some legal limitations. IMO, this type of thing likely happens all the time. The entertainment industry thrives on favorable connections.
Mr. Chan may have been aware of Edthancy throwing his weight around based on his connection, but I doubt Mr. Chan benefited monetarily from this arrangement. Mingpao published some photos of Mr. Chan’s home and while tidy and spacious for a HK home, it was by no means glamorous. It did not look like a home of a man who was raking lots of money from side deals. Mr. Chan likely erred in misplacing his trust and not carefully auditing the books of Edthancy’s company.
In one of Wong Hei’s interviews, he inferred that Mr. Chan held a sometimes thankless job at TVB. Mr. Chan’s position may seem glamorous, but he worked extremely long hours at TVB and Saturdays are the norm. Wong Hei said that Mr. Chan often worked without air conditioning in his job and wore many hats.
I have always admired Mr. Chan’s talent Nd intellect. He shows his sensitivity in his show “Be My Guest” and perhaps his growing celebrity status crossed some lines at TVB. I also think that Mr. Chan’s increasing onscreen involvement took away from his ability to manage some of the more pressing financial matters at TVB, leading rivals to chip away at his relationship with Mona Fong.
SDS, guilty or not, if Mr. Chan can find better lawyers to defend him, he will have a better outcome in the case. Depending on the lawyers handed to him by legal aid seems to be tossing his fate in the air. According to tabloid reports, there may be some gray area regarding the extent of Mr. Chan’s involvement and knowledge.
Thanks Jayne for the explanation. I do expect TVB as the slave driver so I wasn’t surprised to have read what Wong Hei said BUT no air conditioning? You mean his title is big but his actual position is small? Very dramatic isn’t it. I do think Mr Chan is a very good spokesperson for TVB before all these happened. He was articulate and he gave TVB a human sort of personality instead of the arrogant big brother.
But if he knew what was happening, I would wonder in HK whether the fact that he profited from that knowledge is essential or not? Was there corruption involve or criminal breach of trust? What is the actual charge by the way?
We all know everybody throws their weight around even in TVB BUT why him? Why he is caught and not others? What did he do differently so as to make TVB wash their dirty linens in public this time? And I read some actors may be called as witnesses. What can they say? Were they the one who ratted him out?
Jayne
There are always gray areas in a court case, especially on a corruption charge- don’t need a tabloid to tell me that. Most gray areas are obvious in criminal trials and revolve around the main elements of the offense to which most competent lawyers can recognize and build a case on.
You only need the top lawyers when you’re trying to ‘invent’ a gray area in front of strong adverse evidence. The resort to that in a criminal trial is quite indicative unless you believe everyone is out to get you. Better overall performance is one thing but you don’t really need to pay your life savings for that. Its obvious Stephen Chan is recruiting a entire team if his running short of money…
Legal aid in HK in many cases allow the defendant to nominate barrister or solicitor of their choosing (provided he/she accepts the reduced fee- but there are other incentives for lawyers to take it besides upfront money) in a criminal trial. It will rarely leave a defendant’s fate ‘up in the air’.
Funn, since not everyone works on Saturdays at TVB within the administrative offices, the air conditioning is probably not fully run. The AC is probably shut off during those non-peak hours when there is very little staff around.
The charge of the corruption case basically involves Edthancy’s company’s procurement of TVB artists at “preferential rates” (or sometimes working for free) while taking a deep commission atypical of industry standards. The tabloids said that some disgruntled artists went to another TVB executive, who likely alerted Mona Fong. As a result, these artists’ testimony are required before the court.
SDS, more money will of course allow Mr. Chan to obtain more qualified lawyers to defend his case. As General Manager of TVB, how much would his salary be, in the range of $150k to $200k (USD)? His title as General Manager of TVB sounds glamorous but many artists easily earn more money than him. This case is already digging a deep hole into Mr. Chan’s pocket, otherwise why would Wong Hei say that he is even considering selling his own house to pay for Mr. Chan’s legal fees? Legal bills of $25k and $50k (USD) easily rack up….
I am actually quite worried about Mr. Chan’s fate. He likely knew of what Edthancy’s company was doing, perhaps not all the financial fees, but did not put a firm stop to the matter.
Wait…I don’t get it. If Stephan Chan is under investigation for corruption then isn’t he loaded with money? Why does Wong Hei need to help him financially?