Founder of US$14.5 billion Chinese pyramid scheme Shanxinhui jailed for 17 years
- Zhang Tianming was also fined 100 million yuan, while nine of his staff were given prison sentences for their part in the scam
- They had claimed to be raising funds for forest conservation and poverty alleviation work
The founder of a 100 billion yuan (US$14.5 billion) pyramid scheme that claimed to be a charity and whose arrest prompted investors to take to the streets has been jailed for 17 years by a Chinese court.
Zhang Tianming and nine of his employees were sentenced by the Shuangpai People’s Court in Hunan province on Friday over their get-rich-quick scheme Shanxinhui, or Kindness Exchange.
The scheme – which said it was raising funds for charity work – earned them profits of 2.2 billion yuan, according to news website Thepaper.cn.
Along with his prison sentence, Zhang was fined 100 million yuan for leading a multi-level marketing scheme and inciting a mob to create a public disturbance, the court statement said. His nine employees were given jail terms of between 1½ and 10 years for their part in the scam.
