Like a Hong Kong Anna Delvey: the rise and fall of socialite Azura
- Beautiful Azura Luna Mangunhardjono cut a swathe through Hong Kong with tales of her royal ancestry, vast wealth and charity work
- But as the stories unravel and debts pile up, her ex-lovers and former friends are bringing her to account. It's a story echoed in Netflix's Inventing Anna
On October 15, 2018, 46-year-old tech expert Jason, from New York, flew to Hong Kong on a week-long business trip. He checked into a room at the Four Seasons, in Central, and when a lunch appointment was cancelled, he happily nursed an afternoon drink at the hotel’s Pool Bar.
“Then I looked up,” he recalls, “and this incredible, striking woman walked in.”
Jason remembers her warmly embracing the waiting staff, who responded with a fawning adoration reserved for regular clients.
“She was shown to the table next to me, we made eye contact, she smiled, and that was it,” Jason says.
Newly separated from his wife, he could be forgiven his enchantment: her lips were full, her flowing, lustrous hair framing a youthful caramel face, and she wore an elegant white trouser suit tailored to accentuate her lithe body.
“After a couple of minutes, I leaned over and asked, ‘Is there anything you recommend?’ And she said, ‘I’m here all the time, this is my favourite place. Are you with anyone? Come sit with me and I’ll feed you.’”
Her name, she said, was Azura Luna Mangunhardjono, and she regaled Jason with her storied life. She told him she had grown up shuttled between London, Paris and Bali.
