A purported sextortion scheme aimed at Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Wes Edens took an unexpected turn when the accused, a Chinese climate activist, allegedly discovered she had contracted an STD and subsequently demanded a larger payout, as revealed by court filings.
Prosecutors claim that Changli “Sophia” Luo initially sought up to $1 billion, later adjusting her demand to $50 million, while threatening to ruin the billionaire investor with fabricated explicit content and by notifying authorities.
According to court records, Luo was apprehended at John F. Kennedy International Airport last year while attempting to board a one-way flight to China.
A composite image featuring Bucks co-owner Wes Edens and Changli “Sophia” Luo, the Chinese-born woman charged with extorting him for substantial sums. (Jeff Hanisch/USA Today Sports, One World Initiative)
Her $500,000 bail was secured by Robin Mui, identified by the New York Post as an executive at a U.S. newspaper with links to the Chinese Communist Party. However, Luo’s legal representatives argue she poses no flight risk now that she has surrendered her passport.
But her defense team says she’s not a flight risk after surrendering her passport.
Luo is the founder of One World Initiative, a New York-based nonprofit focused on “climate change, economic development, world health” and other topics, according to its LinkedIn. The nonprofit’s website was not accessible Wednesday, but archived versions call for “net zero emissions by 2050” and describe climate change as “the number one challenge facing humanity.”
Edens, 64, is a billionaire Wall Street investor and part owner of the Bucks.
Former Green Bay Packers star Aaron Rodgers and Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Wes Edens watch Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals between the Toronto Raptors and Milwaukee Bucks at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wis., on May 23, 2019. (Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
“In or about May 2024, LUO sent two letters to Victim-1 via iMessage, accusing Victim-1, among other things, of having ‘misled’ LUO in order to have sex with her, and, in the alternative, having sex with LUO while she was mentally incapacitated or mentally disabled,” prosecutors wrote in court filings.
“LUO stated in these letters that her ‘home has cameras,’ and that ‘[e]verything [Victim-1] did was caught on camera,’ which LUO will expose to ‘mass media,’ if Victim-1 did not apologize.”
The two initially reached a settlement for around $6 million before she discovered she’d contracted HPV from the encounter, according to a court filing from one of her defense attorneys, Arthur Aidala.
He filed a motion to dismiss the case last month, arguing her previous civil attorney, Tyrone Blackburn, mishandled settlement negotiations and made threats against Edens.
Milwaukee Bucks owner Wes Edens before a game against the Memphis Grizzlies at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wis., on Jan. 19, 2022. (Jeff Hanisch/USA Today Sports)
Luo used Blackburn to seek a new settlement with a much higher payout — more than $1 billion at first, later reduced to $50 million, according to the filing. Now, her criminal defense team claims that Blackburn’s conduct during the settlement negotiations included threats to “destroy” Edens.
In the motion to dismiss, Luo’s defense argued that Blackburn made the most aggressive statements but has not been charged.
In a fiery email to Fox News Digital, Blackburn disputed many of the defense team’s claims.
“Sophia Luo’s counsel is attempting to distract from the evidence by using me as a scapegoat for conduct that occurred before I was involved,” he wrote.
Brightline founder and Chairman Wes Edens and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg talk after hammering the first spike at the Brightline West Las Vegas station groundbreaking on April 22, 2024. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
He claimed the most damaging evidence predates his involvement, including “fabricated AI videos, fake medical records, fake nonprofit claims, fake business websites, threats involving a person’s children and family, and escalating monetary demands of $1 billion, $750 million, $500 million, $250 million, and $175 million.”
Blackburn also said he warned Luo against her conduct.
“Her counsel may also want to ask their client about the many warnings I gave her, and the fact that I never filed the civil lawsuit against Mr. Edens — despite her relentless demands that I do so,” he wrote.
He ended with a challenge.
“If her attorneys believe my conduct is relevant to their defense, they should subpoena me,” he added. “I will gladly appear, testify under oath and answer every question truthfully.”
Wes Edens, co-founder of Fortress Investment Group, arrives at the Sun Valley lodge for the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference on July 8, 2025, in Sun Valley, Idaho. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
During the second negotiations, Luo allegedly threatened the following:
“If Victim-1 does not take ‘responsibility,’ Luo was determined to ‘destroy’ Victim-1,” prosecutors wrote. “LUO had multiple cameras in the apartment where the Sexual Encounter occurred and LUO had at least two videos and pictures of the Sexual Encounter, which she would provide to others absent a resolution.”
Further, she’s accused of threatening to report him to federal investigators for allegedly bribing government officials.
Federal prosecutors, however, are alleging a complex plot to not only shake down Edens but also to hide evidence from the FBI.
“On April 5, 2025, before the execution of the search warrants in May [2025], the defendant Googled the name of one of the Assistant United States Attorneys handling this case, suggesting that she was aware that federal law enforcement had been investigating her as early as that date,” prosecutors wrote in a bail filing.
When agents arrived at her Manhattan apartment with a search warrant, she allegedly ignored their calls, texts and knocks on the door until a building maintenance worker let them inside. The search turned up multiple cellphones, one hidden in dirty laundry and another with sanitary pads and digital drives, and she allegedly had edited photos showing Edens’ face on the body of another man during sexual activities.
The two first met in 2022 after Luo reached out to Edens on LinkedIn, according to court documents.
They went on a couple of dates and then had sex at her apartment.
After that, prosecutors allege she professed her love for him in a text message.
“I never told you I love you, and tonight I want to tell you that, I have been restraining my feeling for you,” one excerpt, quoted in court documents, said. “As I do love you from the bottom of my heart!”
Edens did not respond. Several months later, she reached out again, and he ignored her. Then she allegedly showed up at his new girlfriend’s job using a fake name and claiming he had forced her to get an abortion and “was a horrible and terrible person” she likened to Jeffrey Epstein, according to court documents.
The judge has not yet ruled on Luo’s motion to dismiss the case.
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