Senior swindler put behind bars

A local court has sentenced a 60-year-old man to 15 years in jail for swindling several victims out of 2.96 million yuan ($483,661), Jing'an District People's Court said Friday.

The court heard that the unidentified defendant was unemployed but posed as a rich boss in charge of many construction projects, the court's press release said.

He claimed to his victims that his business was short of money, or that he needed capital for some lucrative investment opportunities that would yield high returns for the victims.

About 10 years ago, the defendant met one of the victims, surnamed Tang, who worked at a real estate agency, when he wanted to rent an apartment.

The defendant told Tang he was in the timber import and export business and he could gain millions of yuan for each shipment he imported from Vietnam and Myanmar.

He successfully talked Tang into believing that she could get a high return for money she lent him. She later persuaded her brother to join her in giving money to the defendant.

From June 2002 to August 2009, Tang and her brother altogether lent the defendant 1.53 million yuan, which they thought was being invested in the timber trade and other business projects handled by the defendant.

The defendant swindled another victim, surnamed Huang, out of 186,000 yuan. He told Huang he needed to borrow money for a housing renovation project and that he would be able to repay Huang as soon as he won a pending lawsuit in Yunnan Province, which would compensate him 10 million yuan.

The court heard that the defendant had been jailed many times previously for fraud, although the court's press release did not specify how many years the defendant had already spent in jail.

He spent part of the money on covering living expenses. His wife testified that she was unclear as to where the rest of the money was.

The defendant was also fined 30,000 yuan by the court, and ordered to return the money he illegally gained from cheating his victims.