A court in northern China's Hebei Province Monday sentenced 19 people to jail in a fraud case involving at least 5.39 billion yuan ($782 million).
Xiao Xue, head of the Huangjinjia Investment Group based in the city of Langfang, received a jail term of 10 years for illegally taking deposits from the public, said a statement issued by Guangyang District People's Court, which heard the case.
Fourteen others were sentenced for the same crime, with jail terms ranging from two years and five months to six years, the statement said.
A further four, who had tried to harbor the defendants or hide their illegal gains, were jailed from two and three months to three years, it said.
The company was fined 500,000 yuan.
Founded in 2007, Huangjinjia is said to have 3,000 outlets in the country engaged in gold bar sales and purchase. Victims were promised high returns in an investment scheme, but took to the streets in September 2014 when the scheme collapsed.
As of January 2015, when Xiao and her accomplices were prosecuted, more than 36,000 people have called the police claiming they were cheated of their investment, involving a total of 5.39 billion yuan.
