Death, jail terms for Ponzi 'cab' swindlers
By Wu Shen |
August 18, 2009, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
ONE of the leaders of a group of six who swindled people out of a fortune in a Ponzi scheme linked to nonexistent taxicab investments was yesterday sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve by Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Court.
Four others involved in the scam were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment but the ringleader, Zou Peijie, has fled to the United States and is still at large.
As well as the reprieved death sentence, Chen Lihan also had all his personal property confiscated.
Fu Xiuchun was jailed for 15 years and fined 500,000 yuan (US$73,157).
Lu Guowen and Li Zhenfang were jailed for 18 years and fined 600,000 yuan each. Xia Hengzhen was sentenced five years' imprisonment and fined 300,000 yuan.
The Ponzi scheme tricked 252 people into investing 850 million yuan by offering high returns. As with any Ponzi scheme, initial investors did earn a profit.
In this scheme, which ran from March 1998 to December 2007, 165 victims lost a total of 160 million yuan.
Zou lured investors by claiming to be associated with Shanghai Shenjiang Travel Service Co Ltd, a transport company whose businesses include taxi operations.
Investors were offered a chance to buy a stake in the firm's taxi fleet and earn a monthly return.
The term of each investment was five years, with the original amount being paid back in two years and hundreds of thousands of yuan in profits promised over the next three.
However, all Shenjiang receipts and other documentation shown to victims were bogus.
Zou disappeared with most of the money in late 2007.
Four others involved in the scam were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment but the ringleader, Zou Peijie, has fled to the United States and is still at large.
As well as the reprieved death sentence, Chen Lihan also had all his personal property confiscated.
Fu Xiuchun was jailed for 15 years and fined 500,000 yuan (US$73,157).
Lu Guowen and Li Zhenfang were jailed for 18 years and fined 600,000 yuan each. Xia Hengzhen was sentenced five years' imprisonment and fined 300,000 yuan.
The Ponzi scheme tricked 252 people into investing 850 million yuan by offering high returns. As with any Ponzi scheme, initial investors did earn a profit.
In this scheme, which ran from March 1998 to December 2007, 165 victims lost a total of 160 million yuan.
Zou lured investors by claiming to be associated with Shanghai Shenjiang Travel Service Co Ltd, a transport company whose businesses include taxi operations.
Investors were offered a chance to buy a stake in the firm's taxi fleet and earn a monthly return.
The term of each investment was five years, with the original amount being paid back in two years and hundreds of thousands of yuan in profits promised over the next three.
However, all Shenjiang receipts and other documentation shown to victims were bogus.
Zou disappeared with most of the money in late 2007.
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