Two suspected ringleaders in Beijing's largest pyramid selling
scheme surrendered to police this week, the city's public security
spokesman has confirmed.
Liu Liping, a manager of the Yilin Wood Company, returned to
Beijing on Tuesday and surrendered herself to police, the spokesman
said.
Zhao Yuping, another suspect, was persuaded by her family to do
the same on Wednesday night.
They both said they would assist with the police investigation,
confess to their crimes, and seek lenient punishment, the spokesman
told Xinhua.
Five other suspected ringleaders of the pyramid selling scheme
remain at large. They are: Zhang Jianjun, Mou Xiaofeng, Gao Bing,
Wang Honghuai, and Yu Feng.
Police say the suspects each made at least 1 million yuan from
the pyramid sales scheme and then fled when the business
collapsed.
The Ministry of Public Security issued a warrant for the arrest
of the seven on May 23, offering a 10,000-yuan (US$1,250) reward to
anyone who provided information that contributed to their
arrest.
The seven people were suspected of running Yilin Wood Company,
which took more than 1.6 billion yuan (US$206 million) from about
20,000 people across China, including 17,000 in Beijing, since
April 2004.
The company cheated investors by promising high returns on sales
of forest. It used a pyramid selling model, in which one
salesperson recruits other salespeople who then recruit others to
do the same, say police.
Beijing police detained 59 managers and key members of the
company and seized or froze some assets and illicit gains.
Pyramid selling, though legal in some countries, has been banned
in China since 1998. Authorities said such schemes had become
synonymous with cheating and fraud.
People found guilty of organizing and running pyramid schemes
involving a large number of people face prison terms of at least
five years in China 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 June 8, 2007)