He was once considered China’s hedge fund guru, but yesterday he began a lengthy jail sentence after a court in China’s Qingdao City, Shandong Province, found him guilty of stock market manipulation.
Xu Xiang, who was formally arrested in April 2016, on the charge of insider trading and market manipulation, was first detained by police in late 2015, just after a stock market rescue scandal brought down senior regulators and executives in state-owned brokerage companies.
The Qingdao Intermediate People’s Court on Monday morning issued a statement saying that between 2010 and 2015 Xu (pictured) conspired with chairmen and senior management of 13 listed companies to take advantage of inside information to manipulate stock prices and turnover and reap huge profits.
The illicit gains made by Xu have since been recovered, however the amount was not revealed in the statement.
Massive Fine
Chinese financial news site «Caixin» reported that Xu was also fined 11 billion yuan by the court, setting a new record for economic crimes by an individual.
Another two defendants, Wang Wei and Zhu Yong, were also sentenced for manipulating the securities market.
Global Markets Shaken
Xu's detention came in the wake of a market rout that hit China’s stock market in June 2015, wiping out US$5 trillion of market value in weeks, and sending jitters through global financial markets.
Senior executives from China’s largest brokerage Citic Securities, which at the time was part of the so called «national team» to help support the market were also arrested by police in 2016 as part of the wider crackdown.
