TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The legendary Taiwanese fraudster Charlier Huang (黃照岡), also known as Huang Qi (黃琪), made headlines this week after some time out of the public spotlight.
According to media reports, Huang defrauded the celebrity couple Di Ying (狄鶯) and Sun Peng (孫鵬), the parents of An Tso “Edward” Sun (孫安佐), and received over NT$300,000 (US$9,800) in the scam. Huang, along with his accomplice, a lawyer named Kuo Shang-wei (郭上維), offered to serve as legal counsel for the couple during legal battles related to their son’s criminal charges in the U.S. and Taiwan.
Huang is a notorious scam artist in Taiwan. He is most well-known for scamming the former president of Taiwan, Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), by charging exorbitant fees for tarot card sessions and predictions about Taiwan’s future. For this, he earned the nickname “The boy who scammed A-Bian” (騙扁小子).
Charlier Huang in 2008. (TV screengrab)
According to reports, Huang called Sun Peng in late 2018 posing as the secretary of businessman and investor Sung Hseuh-ren (宋學仁), claiming that Sung would arrange a lawyer to help the celebrity couple deal with their son’s legal troubles in Taiwan. Huang directed them to Kuo, who was hired by the couple to arrange documents related to Edward Sun’s arraignment, reported UDN.
In March of 2018, Edward Sun was convicted by a U.S. court of plotting a terrorist attack at a university in the U.S. He spent eight months in custody, before his parents arranged for his deportation to Taiwan.
Edward Sun in 2018. (CNA Photo)
Although Sun was indicted by prosecutors in Taiwan for charges relating to the U.S. incident, Taiwanese courts ultimately ordered a mistrial. The court judged that it did not have jurisdiction over any of Sun’s crimes committed abroad.
Huang’s connection to Kuo only became clear to prosecutors in recent months, as they were researching cases related to Huang’s previous schemes.
Among his other scams, in 2015, Huang posed as Tsai Jia-ling (蔡佳玲), the daughter of the chairman of Cathay Financial Holdings, to receive discounted rates on luxury hotel suites and test drive expensive cars.
In 2018, he appeared before a court in a wheelchair. Speaking with a stutter and trembling hands. His appearance suggested that he had suffered from a mental breakdown.
Huang was sentenced in May 2022 to a short prison sentence for violating the Personal Data Protection Act. He has done several stints in jail, and is likely to face more charges in the future.
Charlier Huang in 2022. (CNA photo)
