BEIJING (Sputnik) – A court in China’s southeastern coastal province of Guangdong sentenced 24 people for fraudulent fundraising over the past decade valued at around $1.5 billion, Chinese media reported Tuesday.
Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court sentenced Jiang Hongwei to life in prison, while 23 other suspects received sentences ranging from 3 years to 14 years, according to the Xinhua news service.
The ring is accused of scamming over 230,000 victims, mostly the elderly, from 2002 to 2012.
The group’s four companies in Guanghzou and branches across China reportedly operated by selling membership cards or funding nonexistent loans with returns promised as high as 47 percent.
The court seized assets, including 127 vehicles and 43 villas, and froze the alleged scammers’ personal accounts.
