China's Ministry of Public Security has issued a wanted list for
seven suspected ringleaders of Beijing's biggest-ever pyramid
selling scheme.
The seven were suspected of running Yilin Wood Company, which
took more than 1.6 billion yuan (US$206 million) from about 20,000
people across the country including 17,000 in Beijing since April
2004.
The seven wanted people -- Zhang Jianjun, Mou Xiaofeng, Gao
Bing, Liu Liping, Wang Honghuai, Zhao Yuping and Yu Feng --
disappeared after the exposure of the scheme, said the
ministry.
Zhang Jianjun, Mou
Xiaofeng, Gao Bing, Liu Liping
Four of them -- Zhang Jianjun, Gao Bing, Wang Honghuai and Zhao
Yuping -- possessed passports, according to the ministry.
A reward of 10,000 yuan (US$1,250) was on offer to anyone who
passed on information that contributed to their arrest, according
to the ministry.
The company cheated investors by promising high returns on sales
of woodland. It used a pyramid selling model, in which one
salesperson recruits other sales people and they then recruit more,
according to the police.
Last December, nine managers of the company were arrested. Early
this year, more than a dozen key members were arrested and some of
the company's assets and illicit gains were seized or frozen.
Even though pyramid selling is accepted in some countries, it
was banned in China in 1998. Authorities said such schemes had
become synonymous with cheating and fraud.
People guilty of organizing and running pyramid schemes
involving a large number of people face prison terms of at least
five years and can be ordered to repay up to five times the profits
generated by their illegal business operations, according to
Chinese law.
(Xinhua News Agency May 31, 2007)
