The mainland's shadow banking system may have made many people rich, but it also has a dark side.
Billionaire Wu Ying, 30, was sentenced to death in 2009 for illegally raising funds with the intention to defraud - a verdict that has shocked thousands of entrepreneurs in eastern Zhejiang province, as they have used underground loans to grow their businesses.
In January, the Zhejiang Higher People's Court upheld the death sentence, but the mainland's highest court overturned the controversial sentence last week.
On Friday, the Supreme People's Court said it declined to approve the sentence and referred the case back to the high court in Zhejiang, adding its decision was based on the consideration that Wu was honest in her confessions, including the fact that she had bribed several civil servants.
Wu was convicted of illegal fund-raising with the intention of cheating the depositors out of 770 million yuan (HK$943 million), half of which she has since repaid.
Her lawyer argued that the money was borrowed from friends and she had no intention to cheat them. Wu offered 'depositors' annual interest rates as high as 80 per cent to support her firm Bense Holding Group, or lent the money to other borrowers at even loftier rates.