West News Wire: A Shanghai court has fined Xiao Jianhua, a Chinese-Canadian billionaire, a record 55.03 trillion Chinese yuan ($8.1 billion) and sentenced him to 13 years in prison.
The Shanghai First Intermediate Court announced on Friday that Xiao and his Tomorrow Holdings were accused of illegally absorbing public deposits, betraying the use of entrusted property, using funds unlawfully, and bribery.
According to the court, Xiao was fined 6.5 million yuan ($954,655) for the charges.
According to the court, Xiao and Tomorrow “seriously breached the financial management order” and “harmed state financial security.”
To avoid financial oversight and seek tax benefits, Xiao and Tomorrow Holdings sent shares, real estate, cash, and other assets to government officials totaling more than 680 million yuan ($99.87 million) between 2001 and 2021.
China-born Xiao, known to have links to China’s Communist Party elite, has not been seen in public since 2017 after he was investigated amid a state-led conglomerate crackdown.
In July 2020, nine of the group’s related institutions were seized by Chinese regulators as part of a crackdown on risks posed by financial conglomerates.
