A former executive at Yoozoo Games has been sentenced to death for poisoning the company’s high-profile founder, Lin Qi, in 2020 following a reported dispute over the business’s operations.
Xu Yao, who headed a Yoozoo subsidiary involved with the Netflix series “3 Body Problem,” was found guilty by the Shanghai First Intermediate People’s Court of lacing Lin’s food and beverages with lethal toxins between September and December 2020.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Lin, 39, died about 10 days after ingesting the poisoned pu-erh tea in December, while four other Yoozoo employees also fell ill from Xu’s actions but survived.
The court stated Xu’s motive stemmed from disagreements with Lin Qi and others over how the prominent gaming company, which had scored major deals adapting hit franchises like Game of Thrones, should be run.
Despite Lin’s youth and immense success in building Yoozoo into an entertainment powerhouse, his life was suddenly cut short by an executive’s vengeful plot.
After Lin Qi passed away, his company, Yoozoo Games, issued a heartbroken statement on their Weibo microblog saying,
“Goodbye youth…We will be together, continue to be kind, continue to believe in goodness, and continue the fight against all that is bad.”
