Monday, continued …"Absolutely. To cut a long story short, they attended an industry meet and great a few weeks after they started with Lu Corporation. It was not as it seems, but for them effectively they were manipulated by their appointed managers and caretakers into becoming s*xual playtoys, one for CEO Lu and another for Rong Jingye."
"They they blackmailed them with exposure of their activities in such a way it would trigger the morals clauses in their contracts. For one of them it has been going for almost twelve months and one was forced to "train" a fifteen year old for that abuse while continuing to be abused. They were told non-compliance would see them ruined, their families and threatened with being taken to a brothel if they did not comply with their demands."
Anna"s words stunned both Hou Yi and Yao Tan into silence
After a couple of minutes of silence, all Anna could say was "Yi? Yao Tan?"
Their names shook the both of them out of their shock. Yao Tan, spoke first "I always knew that there were rumours about adult performers aligned with Lu Corporation trading s*xual favours for roles and positions within the company. It is, I hate to say it a sleazy part of the industry, the casting couch as they call it in Western parlance."
"I refuse to allow it to happen with XF International, hence while the artists here tend to have long term careers, and become able to cope in the real world if they do not as we ensure that they have an education and skills to fall back on. Lu Corporation seem to have a high turnover of artists but it seems to churn them out, and drop them quickly. Most of the successful artists in the country at some time have had some involvement with Lu Corporation. But 15, 16 and 17 year olds, that is …"
"Disgusting."
"I do not know what the age of consent is considered here, but in Australia generally the rule is under 16, provided that there is not more than 2 years between the ages, then a s.e.xual relations.h.i.+p is OK; 16 & 17 year olds, 5 years is the age gap. There is of course exceptions for married couples validly married overseas, so do not think that there is trouble for James and Alecia. We would call them pedophiles. In prisons they are considered the worst of the worst. Those who abuse their power to target children repeatedly, like in this case or you recall the Catholic Cardinal that was convicted …"
"I do. A George Pell, I think?" Responded Yao Tan.
"Correct. They are treated as sc.u.m by what is laughingly called an Ordinary Decent Criminal, which could include murders, thieves, and the like. I have to admit I was stunned, but then given what I know about Lu Jinhu, there had to be something coming from his father and att.i.tude towards women."
"So what is happening?"
"Amanda is talking to them now. One of the girls has agreed to talk to the police but the other is reluctant. They understand given my injury and what happened to me the last time I was at a police station I am reluctant to go there."
After a brief pause, Anna continued "Oh, by the way, one of their brothers works in cyber crime unit in the capital and has located on the darkweb, the shared pedophile footage of their abuse. I would suspect that it is the tip of the iceberg as to the abuse footage shared, and I have the impression that what they are telling me is not a one off, it has been going on for years, but getting people to talk …"
"Will be the issue?"
Hou Yi, in listening to what had happened, finally had to speak "I always thought something was not quite right. While our entertainment division focused mainly on musicians, the few people that signed from Lu Corporation"s entertainment division, were always scared, like something that was to be asked of them was not something that they wanted to do. But I never thought that it was this…"
Something then dawned on Yao Tan "d.a.m.n it. What if Alecia had it all wrong. She remembered Lu Jinhu"s voice because he was talking to her on the balcony, and due to some reason he moved her to a quieter and it was solely his father and one of his perverted friends that were responsible for he acts on her?"