The toxic tryst between a Chinese divorcee and the billionaire Milwaukee Bucks owner allegedly began when she slid into his DMs on LinkedIn, according to court documents.
Changli “Sophia” Luo, 46, originally reached out to the recently-divorced Wesley Edens, the 64-year-old Wall Street financier, via the social media platform for professionals in 2022, according to federal prosecutors.
At first, the messages were professional and appeared to be under the guise of professional networking or philanthropy, according to the lawsuit.
Eventually, they became more personal, with Edens telling Luo how fun it was to own a sports team, having bought majority stakes not only in the Bucks, but also in English Premier League soccer club Aston Villa.
Luo, an entrepreneur and founder of the nonprofit One World Initiative Advocacy, first met Edens face-to-face the following year, before the pair started a brief relationship, the Wall Street Journal first reported.
On their third encounter, the pair had sex at Luo’s Manhattan apartment, according to federal prosecutors.
But following the steamy meeting in June 2023, her behavior changed dramatically, and she threatened to release intimate pictures and videos of him unless he paid up, according to court documents.
Edens initially agreed to pay Luo $6.5 million, including $1 million up front, as part of the alleged shakedown.
But following the settlement, when Luo found out she had HPV, a sexually transmitted infection that can lead to cancer, her lawyer claimed — and she blamed Edens and looked to renegotiate the deal.
She demanded up to a staggering $1.215 billion, almost half of Edens’ estimated $2.5 billion net worth.
