A Chinese businessman has been sentenced to death for swindling investors out of $385m in a bogus scheme to breed ants.
Wang Zhendong, chairman of Yingkou Donghua Trading Group Co., had promised about 10,000 investors in the project returns of up to 60 per cent, China’s Xinhua news agency reported.
The case involved two fake companies put together by Wang between between 2002 and 2005.
In some parts of China black ants are sold by the bagful to be steeped in tea or soaked in liquor as a natural healing remedy for ailments such as arthritis.
Prosecutors said by the time the scam had been exposed in 2005 and the companies had been shut down, only $1.2m of the $385m invested in the scheme had been recovered.
One investor in the scheme reportedly committed suicide after realising he had been duped.
In his defence, Wang said he did not know the first thing about raising ants and was "quite unclear" about the costs, the Beijing News said.
Fifteen managers of Wang’s bogus companies were also given prison terms ranging from five to 10 years and fined between $13,000 and $64,000, Xinhua said.
Fake investments and other get-rich-quick schemes have become an increasingly common feature in China as the country continues its rapid transition from a planned economy to a free market.
Chinese leaders have tried to eradicate the scams, fearing widespread losses could fuel already simmering social unrest.