THE ringleader of a Shenzhen company involved in a 104.6-billion-yuan (US$15.18 billion) pyramid sale scam has been sentenced to 17 years in prison for organizing pyramid sales and disrupting public order.

The ringleader, Zhang Tianming, was also fined 100 million yuan. The other nine members were also imprisoned for between 18 months and 10 years by the Shuangpai court in Hunan Province last week.

Zhang set up Shenzhen Shen-xinhui Culture Communications Co. in 2013 and hired nine major members to operate an online Mutual Aid and Poverty Alleviation program. Through this program, they raised funds by offering high returns and developed a pyramid sale scheme with 5.98 million members at different tiers.

In June 2017, when the company was investigated for the scam and some members were caught by Hunan police, Zhang organized his members to protest at the Hunan Provincial Government building and violently resist police direction. In July last year, Zhang also organized his members to gather in Beijing and disrupt public order.

In another development, Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court recently sentenced 76 members of a criminal ring to prison terms ranging from life imprisonment to two years and five months for contract scams, forced trading and disrupting business operations. The criminal ring headed by Jiang Zhiping set up several companies serving as agents on taobao.com in 2012. They employed various tricks to coax victims into signing contracts and swindled them through the scams. They also threatened, harassed and beat victims and gave malicious reviews online to their competitors. They forced others to sell company stakes at low prices and were involved in scams totaling 300 million yuan.

The three ring leaders, Jiang, Xiong Min and Gu Huaming, were given prison sentences of life, 17 years, and 10 years and six months, respectively. The other 73 members were sentenced to between two years and five months and seven years and six months in prison. (Han Ximin)