Crypto billionaire says he paid $4.5M to marry glamorous Chinese actress. Now he wants it back after romance fizzled
Crypto billionaire Justin Sun says he paid $4.5 million to the family of Chinese actress Jing Tian as part of plans to marry her — and is now suing to get the money back after their romance fell apart.Sun — who grabbed headlines in 2024 when he shelled out $6.2 million for an artwork at Art Basel in Miami that consisted of a banana duct-taped to a wall, then promptly ate the banana — claims that the relationship also collapsed amid a $50 million demand tied to having a child through surrogacy in the US.The 36-year-old founder of blockchain company Tron said the couple had been planning a future together when he transferred 30 million yuan — roughly $4.5 million — to Jing’s parents as a traditional marriage-related payment.“We dated with marriage in mind,” Sun said in a written response to questions from the Wall Street Journal that was sent to the newspaper through his lawyer.But Sun said marriage plans with 38-year-old Jing — who appeared opposite Matt Damon in “The Great Wall” and also had roles in “Kong: Skull Island” and “Pacific Rim Uprising” — unraveled as they prepared for medical procedures in the US to have a child.He alleged that the “other party” demanded $50 million and cut off communication after he refused to pay.“The engagement could no longer proceed,” Sun told the Journal.Sun’s lawyer, Zhang Qihuai, said on Chinese social media that a court had accepted a lawsuit seeking the return of the 30 million yuan from Jing and her parents.Jing has not publicly laid out her version of the relationship in detail.But a day after news of the lawsuit surfaced, the actress wrote that she had shown “poor judgment” in men while insisting she “will never sell my love for money.”“I believe in the law,” she added, saying that “justice and fairness will ultimately prevail.”Adding another bizarre layer to the fight, Sun aired his version of the romance in a sprawling social media post titled “My Girlfriend Jing...