Plastic surgeon released over fatal botox case sued by friend for $12m in unpaid legal loans

The veteran Hong Kong plastic surgeon who was unconditionally released last year from manslaughter charges related to a fatal Botox treatment has been sued by a friend who claims he borrowed over HK\$12.17 million to pay his legal team but has refused to repay the debt. 

The writ, filed in the High Court yesterday, names Diana King Yuen-fung as the plaintiff and 93-year-old Dr. Franklin Li Wang-pong as the defendant. 

According to the lawsuit, Li repeatedly begged King for money because he desperately "did not want to go to prison" and needed to cover the soaring costs of his defense team during his high-profile criminal prosecution. 

King, who became friends with Li and his wife in 2023, agreed to a flexible lending arrangement. 

Between May 2023 and August 2024, she transferred funds to Li’s bank account on 14 separate occasions. Although King began demanding her money back in mid-2025, Li repeatedly stalled. 

He allegedly tried to reassure her by claiming he had an incredibly wealthy son living in the United States who would settle the entire debt on his behalf—though King was never able to track down this son, and no repayments were ever made.

Li was originally prosecuted for manslaughter following the November 2018 death of 52-year-old private banker Zoe Cheung Shuk-ling, who collapsed and died after receiving Botox injections and an excessive mix of sedatives at his Tsim Sha Tsui clinic. 

While a High Court jury concluded in November 2025 that Li's severe negligence had unlawfully killed the banker, the court was forced to release him unconditionally because he was diagnosed with dementia and deemed mentally unfit to stand trial or enter a plea. 

King is now asking the court to order Li to repay the entire HK\$12.17 million principal sum plus interest and legal fees.

𝗗𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗔𝗽𝗽 ↓