A court in south China's Guangdong Province on Monday imprisoned 24 people for fraudulent fund-raising of over 9.9 billion yuan (about 1.5 billion U.S. dollars).

The main suspect, Jiang Hongwei, was sentenced to life in prison while 23 others received jail terms ranging from 3 to 14 years at Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court.

The ring was convicted of cheating more than 230,000 victims, mostly elderly people, from 2002 to 2012, the court said.

The group set up four companies in Guangzhou, many branches and subsidiaries across China, raising funds by tempting members of the public into buying membership cards or funding nonexistent loans, by promising returns as high as 47 percent.

Many elderly victims who put their savings into the scam burst into tears at the trial. Some said they were attracted by the company's "novel modes of financial services" and fooled by their fancy exhibitions.

"Their grand exhibition occupied six halls. After attending it, I felt assured and decided to invest 700,000 yuan," said one elderly woman from Jiangsu Province. "It was all the savings of me and my husband."

The court has frozen the fraudsters' personal accounts and seized their assets, including 127 vehicles and 43 villas, but prosecutors said many victims might not be able to get their money back as Jiang had squandered millions on luxuries and failed to disclose where other funds had gone.

China's central government earlier this month promised severe retribution against illegal fund-raisers after Ezubao, an online peer-to-peer platform, was found earlier this year to have cheated about 900,000 investors out of more than 50 billion yuan (7.6 billion U.S. dollars) through fake investments. An executive from the parent company has admitted that it was nothing but a Ponzi scheme. Endit

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