Chinese copper tycoon He Jinbi gets life sentence for fraud
Chinese copper magnate He Jinbi was sentenced to life in prison for fraud and bribery committed by his company Maike Metals International. A Xi'an court found Maike exposed banks to over US$1 billion in potential losses. He has appealed the verdict.
He Jinbi, once one of China's richest men and known as the country's foremost figure in the copper trade, has been sentenced to life in prison for fraud and other offences committed by his company Maike Metals International, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the verdict.
A court in the western Chinese city of Xi'an found Maike guilty of contract fraud, bribery and other offences last month, and handed its 61-year-old founder a life sentence, according to the report. The ruling found that Maike's conduct had exposed several Chinese banks to more than US$1 billion (HK$7.8 billion) of potential losses, Bloomberg reported, citing sources.
He has appealed the verdict, the report said. Maike was forced into restructuring in 2023 following a liquidity crisis stemming from Covid-era disruptions. During proceedings, He's defence team argued that neither the company nor its founder intended to commit fraud. Maike worked with banks for more than a decade and regularly repaid its loans, striving to do so even when pandemic restrictions reduced cash flows. At least some losses at the lenders stemmed instead from inadequate internal risk controls and procedures, they said, according to Bloomberg.
He founded Maike in June 1993 and established a Hong Kong-based company to expand the business in 1999. In 2022, He and his wife appeared on the Hurun Rich List in 1,221st position, with an estimated net worth of 5 billion yuan (HK$5.87 billion), before the company suffered a severe liquidity crisis triggered by Covid disruptions later that year. Maike's senior executives lost contact with He in October 2023 and believed he had been detained by police. Maike subsequently filed for bankruptcy the following month.