Playboy death new wrinkle in China’s power shuffle

BEIJING (AP) — China’s hopes for a smooth, once-a-decade political transition have been shaken by a lurid new scandal involving the death of a senior official’s son who crashed during what may have been sex games in a speeding Ferrari.

Details of the March accident in Beijing, which allegedly also left two young women injured, have stayed under wraps in China but are leaking out via media in Hong Kong. The media blackout underscores official fears that the public will be outraged by another instance of excess and recklessness among China’s power elites.

The embarrassing new wrinkle follows revelations that the wife of a top leader poisoned her British business associate last year.

Both scandals have become bargaining chips in the jockeying for power ahead of a major leadership reshuffle this fall.