The family of Zhao Hongxia, a controversial figure in the sex video scandal that implicated 11 senior officials in Chongqing of western China, has turned to police after they were bombarded with media requests for interview.

The family reported to police on Saturday that they suspected that someone spread Zhao's personal information, including her address and telephone number. As a result, their daily life was severely disturbed, today's Beijing Times reported.

Zhang Zhiyong, Zhao's lawyer, said his client's relatives were besieged by reporters in their home or other places every day after Zhao was arrested in the case of extortion using sex videos.

Under the Chinese law, civil servants or company employees who illegally leak an individual's data are subject to criminal charges and can be sentenced to up to three years in prison, Zhang said.

Zhao is among the three women recruited by a company to lure high-ranking officials into bed and secretly videotape their sex affairs. Later, the videos were used to blackmail those officials into giving the company lucrative construction contracts.

So far, Zhao is the only one under the media spotlight because she allegedly had sex with six officials and led to their downfall.

Zhang said he has again tried to get Zhao released on bail.

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