A Chinese court on Friday handed down penalties from fines to jail terms to 21 people for their roles in a high-profile case of illegally absorbing public deposits.

Shan Jiuliang, board chairman and president of Kunming Fanya Metal Exchange, was sentenced to 18 years in jail for illegally raising funds from the public and embezzlement, according to the verdict issued by the Kunming Intermediate People's Court in southwest China's Yunnan Province.

Fanya Metal Exchange got a fine of 1 billion yuan (149 million U.S. dollars), while Shan will have 50 million yuan confiscated from his personal assets, apart from a 500,000-yuan fine.

Twenty other defendants also received penalties ranging from prison terms to fines. Three other companies were also fined 500 million yuan, 50 million yuan and 5 million yuan, respectively.

The court said the defendants in violation of China's financial laws, solicited huge amounts of funds from the public by promising them a fixed rate of profits from rare metal trading, causing huge economic losses to the participants.

Police are still working to retrieve the convicts' illegal earnings, which will be used to refund victims of the crime, the court said.

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