Insurance firm boss given suspended death sentence for fraud

SHANGHAI -- The former manager of a private insurance firm in east China's Shanghai on Wednesday was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve after being found guilty of fraud.

The Shanghai Number One Intermediate People's Court convicted Chen Yi, former general manager of Shanghai Fanxin Insurance Agency Co Ltd, and the firm's consultant Jiang Jie, of fraud.

Jiang was sentenced to life in prison. All the personal assets of both were confiscated.

Between 2010 and 2013, Chen and Jiang raised more than 1 billion yuan ($163 million dollars) by selling fake insurance products to 4,400 people in Shanghai and neighboring Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, causing losses of 800 million yuan.

They fled with 830,000 euros ($939,290) in cash and luxuries in late July 2013 after transferring nearly 50 million Hong Kong dollars ($6.44 million) to Hong Kong. Chen was captured in Fiji on August 19, 2013.

The trial began in July 2014.