PANews reported on November 1 that the Shaanxi High Court issued a typical case of illegally absorbing public deposits by building a crypto trading platform. In June 2019, the defendants Shi and Zhu set up an office in the Wealth Center of Xi'an High-tech Zone in the name of Shaanxi Silk Road Starting Point Network Technology Co., Ltd., and issued and traded USDT, QC, and BRTR currencies on the self-built BRTR platform in the name of China Investment Shanquan Investment Fund Management Co., Ltd., and then held promotion meetings in Xi'an, Chengdu, Yichang, Linyi and other places for promotion. They boasted about their company's strength to the public, fabricated investment in cryptocurrencies, and used the bait of guaranteed principal, high interest and the right to use luxury cars to attract investment from the public. According to the audit, as of the time of the incident, a total of 114 fund-raising participants reported the case, with a total amount of more than 6.34 million yuan raised, of which more than 5.16 million yuan had been returned.
After trial, the court held that the defendants Shi and Zhu violated the national financial management laws and regulations, absorbing funds from the public in disguised form, disrupting the financial order, and had committed the crime of illegally absorbing public deposits. The defendants Shi and Zhu were both sentenced to four years in prison and fined for the crime of illegally absorbing public deposits.
