BEIJING – A Chinese businesswoman was sentenced to death for cheating investors out of an “extraordinarily large” amount: $200 million. Su Yenyu, 42, was sentenced to death in January this year by the Erdos intermediate people’s court. That verdict was recently upheld by the Inner Mongolia autonomous regional higherpeople’s court in north China.
According to state-run Xinhua news agency, Yenyu allegedly cheated investors of 1.23 billion yuan ($200 million) using high returns as bait and personally misappropriating 552 million yuan. Her personal wealth has since been confiscated.
The high court explained why the death penalty applied: “The amount of the fraud was extraordinarily large and caused significant damage to both the country and the people. In such cases the death penalty is mandatory.”
Yenyu started her “illegal” fundraising in 2006, using the funds to invest in restaurants, health clubs, coal mines and farm. She even bought 20 million yuan worth of lottery tickets. She reportedly burned all documents relating to her business between 2006 to October 2009. She surrendered to police on September 20, 2011.
This marks China’s second case this year where a businesswoman received the death penalty as a result of defrauding investors.
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