China’s most famous–and in some circles, infamous–coach, Eva Wong, has been released from custody and has returned to Hong Kong, according to friends who have spoken with her.  ”I’m glad she’s out,” said Nevada coach Judy Irving.

Over the last few days, word has spread in coaching circles worldwide–and especially in Hong Kong, that Wong had been released from prison and returned to the city, her hometown, where in recent weeks she has been reconnecting with friends. “A friend of mine had dinner with her,” said Hong Kong based coach Angela Spaxman, who said Wong is doing well after roughly three years in custody. “She is in very good spirits including feeling grateful for the experience.”

Wong, considered perhaps the most powerful coach in China, founded the coaching company Top Human, which by 2007 was receiving glowing press and huge numbers of students–a reported 100,000 Chinese executives signed up as coaching clients, or to attend workshops.

Judy Irving attended one of those training workshops and a subsequent coaching class graduation event in Beijing for a group of Eva Wong’s students just three weeks before Wong’s arrest.  ”It was a big celebration,” said Irving, who and recalls being surprised by the number of Chinese government officials who were in attendance. “As I was leaving that night, I was thinking to myself, how are these dignitaries receiving this information?  What are they thinking of this?”

Irving believed at the time Wong was perhaps playing a risky game. “I did think when I was there, she’s either extremely confident, or she’s taking a really big chance by sort of flaunting her work. And then it was just a couple months later that I heard she had been arrested.”

The exact nature of Wong’s arrest–and that of her husband, who was also jailed–remains unclear.  Several sources told the Coaching Commons earlier this year the arrest was unrelated to Wong’s coaching practices, which many in China believe the government ultimately found to be a form of “brainwashing.”

“She was not someone who was frightened by controversy,” said Irving.

Instead, Wong was charged with violating Chinese tax laws.  Sources familiar with the Chinese government and Chinese law say such charges are often used as a catch-all to target a person or business who has fallen into disfavor with the ruling Communist Party.

Details on where Wong and her husband were held, the terms of her release–and the status of Wong’s husband himself–have not been disclosed.

Coaches who worked with Eva Wong at the height of her powers and popularity said they hope she will now come forward and tell her side of the story.  ”I would love for her to publish some sort of a statement on the chances she took, and the outcome, and her experience of incarceration, and what shifted in that time,” said Irving. “We’d all like to hear that.”

Whether Eva Wong comes forward or not, Irving believes this dramatic “rise and fall” story is far from over.

“We all know we haven’t heard the last of Eva Wong.”

Read our original report Coaching Phenomenon:  The Rise and Fall of Eva Wong.