A dad who lied about
being poor in order to raise money for his sick son has been ordered to repay
the money.
The case was brought
before the Chaoyang District Court in China’s capital city Beijing by the
crowdfunding project Shuidichou who said that the accused, identified as Mo
Chunyi (28), had wasted the money on other things.
He first contacted
Shuidichou, a crowdfunding platform that raises money for medical treatment for
people who can’t afford it, in April of last year. He said his then
seven-month-old son was diagnosed with a rare chromosomal disease known as
Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome and he needed to raise about R853 000.
Chunyi, who told
Shuidichou he was bankrupt and had run up debts of more than R420 000, was able
to collect raise R326 000 in just 30 hours.
But the crowdfund was
put on hold when people contacted the online platform to say that he owns a
valuable street property that would generate considerable income.
Shuidichou, however,
allowed Chunyi to withdraw the money he’d already raised after he told them
that the property belonged to his father and said that his wife was unemployed.
The boy died in July. Five
days after that, Chunyi’s his wife then contacted the website again and
confirmed that her husband had lied about their financial situation.
She also alleged that
none of the crowdfunding money had been spent on their son’s medical treatment.
After investigating in
August, the site asked that the money be returned and when he refused, they
filed a lawsuit.
The court agreed that
Chunyi had lied about his financial situation and he hadn’t used the money for
what it was intended. This constituted a breach of contract and fraud.
As a result, he was
ordered to pay all back plus a fine and interest.
Source: Magazine Features
