China sentences tycoon to 13 years, fines firm $8.1 billion: Report

A Shanghai court on Friday sentenced Chinese-Canadian billionaire Xiao Jianhua, not seen in public since 2017, to 13 years in jail and fined his Tomorrow Holdings conglomerate 55.03 billion yuan ($8.1 billion), a record in China.

Xiao and Tomorrow Holdings were charged with illegally siphoning away public deposits, betraying the use of entrusted property, and the illegal use of funds and bribery, the Shanghai First Intermediate Court said.

It added the punishment was mitigated because both had admitted their crimes and cooperated in recovering illegal gains and in restoring losses. Xiao and Tomorrow have ‘severely violated a financial management order’, the court said.