Second Life's most ludicrous scandal, the "sexual assault" of the virtual world's richest entrepreneur by a flock of flying penises, just got more baroque. Anshe Chung — a big-busted avatar played by Ailin Graef and star of BusinessWeek's hype-mongering cover story on Linden Lab's 3D world — was originally an online escort, Valleywag revealed today. By which we mean only that customers could pay to watch the sexy avatar in suggestive positions, while Graef chatted naughtily in the background. All quite laughable, and embarrassing for Benchmark-backed Linden Lab, but innocent enough. But Graef's husband, Guntram, seems to have forgotten Anshe Chung's seedy history in today's CNET interview about the attack on his wife's online alter ego.

I think what many people in the U.S. and Australia have not been aware of is that Ailin is Chinese, and showing photos of her that have been manipulated into hugging huge penises and stuff like that is quite devastating in this culture. [CNET]