Christian Albert Soriano "Xian" Gaza (born July 5, 1993) is a Filipino

internet personality An Internet celebrity, also referred to as an Internet personality, is an individual who has acquired or developed their fame and notability on the Internet. The growing popularity of social media provides a means for people to reach a large ...

Career

Gaza claims to be the President and CEO of Hong Kong-based Guanxiqian Group. He also claims to be the founder of Gazaboy Group of Companies and Gazera Media. He first came to wider public attention in mid-2017 for publicly asking out actress

Erich Gonzales Erika Chryselle Gonzales Gancayco-Lorenzo (born September 20, 1990), better known by her stage name Erich Gonzales (; ), is a Filipino actress. She is a contract artist of ABS-CBN's Star Magic. She started her showbiz career at the age of 14, a ...

for a coffee date via a billboard. Allegations of him being a scammer arose soon after involving his ventures. This includes his averted ventures with the Haiyan Shirt Project charity project for victims of

Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan, known in the Philippines as Super Typhoon Yolanda, was an extremely powerful and catastrophic tropical cyclone that is among List of the most intense tropical cyclones, the most powerful tropical cyclones ever recorded. Upon ...

(Yolanda) and Filipino Vines, a social media venture. This also includes his transaction with a buy-and-sell business of

Ella Cruz Gabriela Annjane "Ella" Umali Cruz (; born August 17, 1996) is a Filipino actress. She played the title character in the 2012 fantasy drama ''Aryana (TV series), Aryana''. Career She started her career on GMA Network in 2006, her first proje ...

's father where Gaza intended to buy a Fortuner.

Arrest and later exile

In April 2018, a warrant of arrest was issued against Gaza for allegedly violating the Bouncing Check Law. He got involved in a investment scheme involving a coffee shop with Melinda Cruz and Jaime Asuncion. Gaza admitted to scamming the couple and surrendered himself to the Malabon City police on April 12, 2018. He appealed to his supporters for for his

bail Bail is a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensure that they will not hamper the judicial process. Court bail may be offered to secure the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when ...

, despite his

bail bond Bail is a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensure that they will not hamper the judicial process. Court bail may be offered to secure the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when r ...

fixed at . He was released a day later after being able to secure funds for his bail. In June 2018, he was sentenced to five years and six months of imprisonment for 11 counts of violation of the Bouncing Check Law On September 30, 2018, Gaza took a flight abroad to Hong Kong to evade arrest. His account of his supposed escape by booking multiple flights was dismissed by the Bureau of Immigration as a hoax and considered filing a case against him for making a mockery of airport procedure though admitted that he was cleared to depart the country due to having no derogatory record left on Gaza at the time.

Xian Coin

In 2021, Gaza released his own

cryptocurrency A cryptocurrency (colloquially crypto) is a digital currency designed to work through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it. Individual coin ownership record ...

which he dubbed as the Xian Coin (XNC). The

Securities and Exchange Commission The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street crash of 1929. Its primary purpose is to enforce laws against market m ...

(SEC) has issued an advisory in June 2021 against the venture. The SEC concludes that XNC indicates a

Ponzi scheme A Ponzi scheme (, ) is a form of fraud that lures investors and pays Profit (accounting), profits to earlier investors with Funding, funds from more recent investors. Named after Italians, Italian confidence artist Charles Ponzi, this type of s ...

. In December 2021, the SEC has filed a

cease and desist order A cease and desist letter is a document sent by one party, often a business, to warn another party that they believe the other party is committing an unlawful act, such as copyright infringement, and that they will take legal action if the other ...

against the venture. It is powered through the

Ethereum Ethereum is a decentralized blockchain with smart contract functionality. Ether (abbreviation: ETH) is the native cryptocurrency of the platform. Among cryptocurrencies, ether is second only to bitcoin in market capitalization. It is open-s ...

blockchain The blockchain is a distributed ledger with growing lists of Record (computer science), records (''blocks'') that are securely linked together via Cryptographic hash function, cryptographic hashes. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of th ...

and is traded exclusively by its holders. It is purportedly exchangeable to

Colombian peso The Colombian peso (currency sign, sign: $; ISO 4217, code: COP) is the currency of Colombia. Its ISO 4217 code is ''COP''. The official sign is $, with ''Col$''. also being used to distinguish it from other peso- and dollar-denominated currencie ...

Mexican peso The Mexican peso (Currency symbol, symbol: $; ISO 4217, currency code: MXN; also abbreviated Mex$ to distinguish it from peso, other peso-denominated currencies; referred to as the peso, Mexican peso, or colloquially varo) is the official curre ...

Brazilian real The Brazilian real (plural, pl. '; currency symbol, sign: R$; ISO 4217, code: BRL) is the official currency of Brazil. It is subdivided into 100 centavos. The Central Bank of Brazil is the central bank and the issuing authority. The real repl ...

Peruvian sol The sol (; plural: soles; currency sign: S/) is the currency of Peru; it is subdivided into 100 ''céntimos'' ("cents"). The ISO 4217 currency code is PEN. The sol replaced the Peruvian inti in 1991 and the name is a return to that of Peru's h ...

and Philippine peso. It is associated with the

blockchain game Video games can include elements that use blockchain technologies, including cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), often as a form of monetization. These elements typically allow players to trade in-game items for cryptocurrency, or re ...

''Surreal Estate''.

Personal life

Gaza is known for asking out various celebrities for a date. In 2017, Gaza asked actress

for a coffee date through a

billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

. Amused at first, Gonzales eventually rejected Gaza's advances after controversies about him arose. In 2020, he attempted to win

Nadine Lustre Nadine Alexis Paguia Lustre (, ; born October 31, 1993) is a Filipino actress and singer. Known primarily for her performances in a variety of film genres, she rose to fame for playing the lead role in '' Diary ng Panget'' (2014). Her accola ...

's affection by sending her a red

Ford Mustang The Ford Mustang is a series of American Car, automobiles manufactured by Ford Motor Company, Ford. In continuous production since 1964, the Mustang is currently the longest-produced Ford car nameplate. Currently in its Ford Mustang (seventh ...

sports car. In 2021, he rented a billboard in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

to put up an advertisement asking

Blackpink Blackpink (, stylized in all caps or as BLɅϽKPIИK) is a South Korean girl group formed by YG Entertainment. The group is composed of four members: Jisoo, Jennie (singer), Jennie, Rosé (singer), Rosé, and Lisa (rapper), Lisa. Regarded by ...

member Jennie for a date. Fans of the K-pop artist were critical of the move.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaza, Xian 1993 births 21st-century Filipino businesspeople Filipino Internet celebrities Confidence tricksters Living people