Ex-lover sues actor for $70m

Actor and director Stephen Chow Sing-chi promised to give his ex-girlfriend commission for making investments based on their romantic relationship and not a commercial contract, his lawyer said at a hearing in the high court yesterday.

Chow's ex-girlfriend Alice Yu Man-fung sued him for HK$70 million in commission fees over investments in properties and funds.

Former secretary for justice Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung, representing Yu, told judge Russell Adam Coleman the two courted between 1997 and 2010.

Not only did Chow and Yu have a romantic relationship, they were also business partners. In 2002, Yu signed an agreement and was paid to become Chow's financial adviser until 2010.

Yuen said that according tothe agreement between the two, Yu should be given 10 percent in fees from investment products when she was hired by Chow.

The investment products included Peregrine Greater China Capital Appreciation Fund and three houses at the Beverly Hills in Tai Po.

Yuen said Chow has been focused on film and television work since the 90s and had no time to deal with his company Star Royale's administrative work and his independent investments. Those aspects were managed by his sister, ex-girlfriend Yu and Brenda Cheung.

His sister had paid 10 percent in commissions to Yu before when she was able to earn a profit by helping Chow to invest, Yuen said.

However, Chow's lawyer, Bernard Man, said the commissions were agreed out of love and were not a legal commitment.

Man said the conversation about the commissions happened during Christmas in 2002 when Chow offered to give Yu 10 percent of the investment profit.

Man said the commissions are at most only a gift and questioned whether Chow's verbal agreement was commercially or legally binding.

He said the so-called agreement they had signed in 2012 was only due to their romantic relationship at the time because the agreement allowed Yu to earn commissions from investment profit without bearing any consequences for investment losses.

He added that Yu lost at least HK$13 million through investments on behalf of Chow.

He described Chow giving money to Yu for investment as being like "a grandmother giving money to her grandchild to play mahjong." It was out of love and did not have any business purpose.

The hearing continues today.