An investing scheme in China hatched between two brothers and their father, Ji Wenhua, Ji Shengjun and Ji Linqing of Yintai Real Estate Investment Group, illegally amassed a fund worth over $1 billion between 2003 and 2008. Ji Wenhua, president of the Yintai Real Estate, was sentenced to death for his crimes by the Intermediate People’s Court of Lishui. His brother and father have been spared capital punishment and instead face life in prison.
Yintai Real Estate Investment Group was founded in 2002 and had branches in the Chinese provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Hunan. During those same years Yintai Real Estate concealed losses and deceived shareholders to continue raising funds. As time elapsed, Yintai Real Estate Investment Group became increasingly insolvent and had to enlist more investors even though the company knew it would never be profitable. The game collapsed when creditors began calling in loans on real estate during the financial downturn in 2008. In addition to gross negligence and abuse of company funds, the brothers and father lived a lavish lifestyle, a trait that did not endear them to the courts.