Late Daughter Yu Yuan-chi's Widower Chen Jian Arrested as Fraud Ring 'Collection Chief'; Yu Tian Condemns Son-in-Law as 'Shameful' While Grandchildren Go Missing

In April 2024, Chen Jian (陳鑒, Gary), the widower of Yu Yuan-chi (余苑綺) — the late second daughter of veteran entertainer and former DPP legislator Yu Tian (余天) and his wife Li Ya-ping — was arrested by police at the scene of a cash handover, accused of serving as a 'collection chief' (車手頭/收水手) for an organized fraud syndicate, supervising a network of cash couriers who collected fraudulent proceeds from victims and consolidated them for the criminal organization. Police seized a large amount of cash on Chen Jian's person at the time of arrest. In June 2024, the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office formally indicted Chen Jian on charges including aggravated fraud by three or more persons, violation of the Money Laundering Control Act, and violation of the Organized Crime Prevention Act. On November 12, 2024, the New Taipei District Court handed down a first-instance verdict: taking into account that Chen Jian had reached settlements and paid partial compensation to some victims, the court sentenced him to two years imprisonment, suspended for five years of probation, with mandatory protective supervision, 240 hours of community service, and 8 hours of legal education. Victims who had not received compensation expressed strong dissatisfaction and lodged appeals. Further complicating matters, Chen Jian was subsequently charged in a separate fraud case, with prosecutors seeking 1 year and 10 months imprisonment; given his prior record, a second suspended sentence was considered highly improbable. The episode had a devastating impact on the Yu family: in the immediate aftermath of Chen Jian's arrest, Yu Tian and Li Ya-ping were unable to contact Yu Yuan-chi's children, who had stopped attending school, and filed an emergency police report before welfare authorities confirmed the children were safely placed with Chen Jian's relatives. Yu Tian negotiated with Chen Jian over custody arrangements, reaching an agreement for the grandchildren to visit the Yu household weekly, though Yu Tian later publicly stated he had gone a prolonged period without seeing his grandchildren, expressing deep anger at Chen Jian. Yu Tian denounced his son-in-law's conduct as 'shameful' and insisted he had no prior knowledge of the criminal activities. Yu Tian also publicly revealed that Chen Jian had conducted an extramarital affair even while Yu Yuan-chi was gravely ill, a detail the family had long endured in silence. The case, combined with Yu Yuan-chi's death from rectal cancer in 2022, added a dimension of criminal scandal to the profound family tragedy that had made the Yu household one of the most publicly sympathized figures in Taiwanese entertainment.