Baby
A childcare worker feeds a baby at a childcare center in Paris, July 30, 2015. Loic Venance/AFP/Getty Images

A Chinese man was charged with child-trafficking Monday after he sold his baby daughter to a couple for $11,000 and splurged the money on female vloggers who hosted shows on a live streaming site.

According to local media, the man, surnamed Lu, was introduced to the couple by two middlemen after he claimed that he couldn’t afford to raise his daughter and son. He also told the middlemen that his wife left him.

The couple met Lu in January and saw photos and videos of the baby and immediately told him that they wanted to “adopt” the baby. Local reports said the couple suffered from fertility problems and their son died two years ago.

The following month, the couple drove to Lu’s home, around 70 miles from their home, to pick up the baby. They paid him $11,000 as “nutrition fees” and signed an “adoption” contract with him. The man immediately used the money to tip female vloggers who hosted shows on Kuaishou, a video platform.

The incident came to light a few months later when the couple tried to apply for an ID for the baby using a fake birth certificate. The People's Procuratorate of Jin'an District charged Lu with child-trafficking Monday. It was, however, not known if the couple was charged with the offense. The exact age of the daughter was not known.

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