Bosses of the defunct Xinguoda Futures have been arrested by police in Beijing, Xinhua reported yesterday.
Michael Ni Wen-liang, who holds a Belize passport but lives in Taiwan, was arrested with Gao Zhenyu, from Shandong province, and Gong Congying, from Beijing.
The news agency said the three were arrested for engaging in fraudulent futures trading. Criminals convicted on the mainland of financial fraud can be sentenced to death.
In less than eight months, Ni and his associates cheated 532 million yuan (HK$494.76 million) out of 4,121 investors who thought they had put cash into futures trading through Xinguoda, said Xinhua.
But Xinguoda was an illegal company. The partners had obtained a business licence and other certificates through forgery.
The news agency said they took over Xinguoda from two mainland companies last January but the deal was never approved by the authorities.
