Malaysian police arrested the founder of the dating platform Sugarbook in February 2021, and according to local reports he was taken into custody a second time within hours over a separate allegation.
The New York Post reported that authorities arrested a 34 year old man on Wednesday over alleged prostitution connected to the platform, but police did not release his name. Malaysian outlets and the company’s own social media profile identified the Sugarbook founder and CEO as Darren Chan. The arrest came a day after Sugarbook was blocked from operating on Malaysian internet networks.
Sugarbook describes itself as a service that matches university students with wealthy older men. The company has said the platform does not allow nudity, adult content or prostitution.
According to the reports, Chan was released after a hearing at the Shah Alam court on Thursday. Hours later, police detained him again over an allegation that he had raped a woman in February 2019. Chan has not been convicted of any crime, and the allegations have not been tested in court.
Selangor police official Datuk Fadzil Ahmat told The Star that police had received 74 reports nationwide connected to the case.
Before his arrest, Chan wrote on Twitter about the ban. “Although we do not have any form of nudity, adult content nor prostitution, we’ve lost the battle,” he said. “We believe that our Malaysian government knows what’s best for the people.”
Chan was expected back in court on Friday. Baller Alert did not find a public response from Chan to the rape allegation at the time of publication.
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