13 jailed for illegal fundraising in China

As many as 13 people were jailed here Wednesday for illegally raising funds totalling 2.6 billion yuan (about 422 million dollars).

They received jail terms between 2.5 and 10 years after a Beijing court found that these individuals collected money from over 40,000 people, Xinhua reported. They were also slapped with fines ranging from 100,000 to 500,000 yuan.

From December 2009 to May 2012, Zhu Zijun and 12 others cheated the public to buy "franchise qualification" in their dummy company, a court statement said.

The collection of funds from the public by unqualified entities is explicitly prohibited by Chinese law.