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Chinese bankers get 25 years for £320m theft
Sam Lyon7 May 2009
Two former managers of the Bank of China and their wives have been given up to 25 years in jail after stealing more than £320million from the bank.
They were convicted in Las Vegas last year on charges of racketeering, money laundering, international transportation of stolen property and passport and visa fraud.
The former bankers laundered the stolen money through Hong Kong, Canada and the United States, using Las Vegas casinos to make bets of up to £53,000. They emigrated to the United States with their wives by obtaining false identities and staged "sham marriages" with US citizens.
Xu Chaofan and Xu Guojun were sentenced to 25 and 22 years in prison respectively. Their wives, Kuang Wan Fang and Yu Ying Yi, were each sentenced to eight years in prison. All four were ordered to pay £318million in restitution.
Reader views (8)
@Richard:
Wrong, if they had been convicted in the UK, they would have all been given a peerage and a GBP 700k p.a. pension in addition to a big (min. GBP 0.5 mio) golden good-bye.
- Weddigen, London SW6, 08/05/2009 09:53
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If they had been convicted in Sweden the Judge would have ordered that they be given Burger King vouchers in order to get lunch on their way home!
- Mel Barrows, Tenerife. Canary Islands., 07/05/2009 16:53
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In reply to Richard, no not a community sentence more like a Knighthood, Ops my mistake already has one!
- Mike, London England, 07/05/2009 16:47
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Good job America doesn't have the death penalty then. If they were in Britain they'd be given a new life and book deal like Liam Neeson.
- Albert Swift, Aberdeen, Scotland, 07/05/2009 15:22
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God I wish we had same rules here in UK. Just thing Goodwin and Co. would be no more!
- Mike, London England, 07/05/2009 14:06
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If they were convicted in the UK, they would have been given a community sentence.
- Richard, London, 07/05/2009 13:19
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they will be shot in china when they are deported
- Tony, connecticut usa, 07/05/2009 13:00
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They can consider themselves lucky. If they were in China, they would all have been shot.
- Kate, London, 07/05/2009 09:39
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