Trial has made return home harder for Bo Guagua
Evidence suggesting Bo Xilai's son benefited from illicit payments to powerful parents will likely keep him overseas for foreseeable future
The dramatic trial of disgraced former Politburo member Bo Xilai will likely close the book on his once-promising political career. But one aspect of the saga remains unresolved - the fate of his son, Bo Guagua.
The younger Bo's name came up repeatedly during the trial, mostly to explain what motivated his mother, Gu Kailai, to solicit gifts and pay-offs from tycoons who had business with her husband.
The proceedings appear to have limited Bo Guagua's options; his mother is serving a suspended death sentence for murder and his father is waiting for what will almost certainly be a guilty verdict.
Moreover, evidence presented at court portrayed him as a pampered playboy who benefited from his mother's ill-gotten money, making it even harder to return home.
Perhaps his best choice would be to remain where he is, in the United States, and avoid entangling himself further in the family's corruption saga.
He enrolled in Columbia Law School in New York for the autumn term, suggesting that he may be preparing for a long period in exile. It takes three years to earn a law degree, at a cost of US$80,000 a year, including living expenses.
Even before the fall of his father in March last year, Bo Guagua was the subject of the kind of controversy that routinely swirls around the offspring of the rich and powerful.