Kris Wu Photo: CFP

Another scandal related to Chinese-Canadian pop star Kris Wu has started trending on Chinese social media on Tuesday. This time, his agency has become embroiled in a lawsuit over contract violations.

The hashtag "Kris Wu's agency being sued by Vatti for contract violations" quickly earned 590 million views on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo on Tuesday.

A snapshot of court documents that has gone viral on social media shows the plaintiff in the case is Vatti, a Chinese company that manufactures kitchen appliances, while the defendants are the Beijing Fanshi Culture Media company and two other media companies based in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The service contract dispute will be heard on November 22.

According to media reports, Wu previously served as a spokesperson for Vatti, but the cooperation between the two parties expired in July.

On August 16, Wu was detained for suspicion of rape after an investigation by the Supreme People's Procuratorate in Beijing's Chaoyang district. 

According to an app Tianyancha that shows the background of Chinese companies, Beijing Fanshi Culture Media company was established on January 30, 2015. Its main business scope is organizing cultural and artistic exchange activities (excluding performances). Wu Lin, Kris Wu's cousin, is a majority shareholder with 99 percent of shares.

Wu Xiaolin, a lawyer from the Beijing-based Yingke Law Firm, told the Global Times that opening agencies under the name of family members or relatives used to be very popular among stars to turn personal remuneration income from services into the operating income of an individual proprietorship company in order to enjoy a lower tax rate.

Vatti is not the only brand that Kris Wu endorsed. Brands including Lancome, Kiehl's, Wuhan-based snack brand Bestore, and Shanghai-based cosmetics company Kans all announced that they had ended their relationship with the star after his scandal was revealed online.