A pyramid scheme organization that used "virtual currency" as a gimmick has been prosecuted and sentenced, with the amount involved exceeding 210 million yuan

According to ChainCatcher news, as shown on the official account of the Yunnan Provincial People's Procuratorate, recently, the Shidian County Procuratorate prosecuted a case involving Li and 10 others for organizing and leading pyramid selling activities. After court hearings, Li and the other 10 defendants were sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment ranging from six years to two years for the crime of organizing and leading pyramid selling activities, and were fined between 500,000 and 100,000 RMB.

Since May 2021, Li has successively gathered Huang, Jin, and others, using "blockchain" and "virtual currency" as a gimmick to seek illegal profits. They set up five capital pools on an online platform under the pretext of purchasing and holding virtual digital currency A and issuing virtual digital currencies B and C. Through a combination of offline meetings and online WeChat groups, they created a successful persona, leveraged special professional backgrounds, and promoted slogans such as "one coin, one mansion; one coin, one luxury car" and "earn hundreds of thousands to millions easily in a day," widely publicizing reward systems and profit prospects. They deceived the public into obtaining membership qualifications through purchasing, destroying, and adding to the capital pools, and completing assigned tasks to receive static dividends and dynamic earnings based on the number of people developed and investment amounts, forming five levels of rebates.

According to the appraisal, the pyramid selling funds collected by Li and others through the online platform amounted to over 210 million RMB. The Shidian County Procuratorate reviewed the case and found that Li used virtual currency as a gimmick, colluding with the other nine defendants to defraud property through the online platform, disrupting the economic and social order. The total pyramid selling funds exceeded 210 million RMB, and the circumstances were serious. The actions of Li and the other ten violated the provisions of Article 224-1 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, constituting the crime of organizing and leading pyramid selling activities. After court hearings, the above judgment was made.