Chinese government officials declared He was sentenced to life in prison for both illegal business operations — running a CNY 2.4 billion ($329 million) bitcoin mining business — and unrelated corruption charges.
Hangzhou Municipal Intermediate People’s Court on August 22 sentenced Xiao Yi, former member and vice chairman of the Jiangxi Political Consultative Conference Party Group, to life imprisonment for corruption and abuse of power, according to local media reports.
The corruption charges stem from non-cryptocurrency-related bribery activities from 2008 to 2021. The 2017-2021 power tariff abuse stems from the provision of financial and electricity subsidies to city-based company Jiumu Group Genesis Technology. Fuzhou once operated more than 160,000 bitcoin (BTC) mining machines.
The prosecution alleges that Lee “concealed” the mining business by directing relevant departments to fabricate statistical reports and adjust the classification of electricity consumption. From 2017 to 2020, Jiugi’s electricity consumption accounted for 10% of Fuzhou’s total electricity consumption. The sentencing judge of the Hangzhou People’s Court wrote, “Mr. Yi pleaded guilty and repented, actively returned his stolen funds, and all his bribes and profits were confiscated.”
China currently bans all forms of cryptocurrency trading, exchange operations, and fiat-to-crypto onboarding, but has not gone as far as outright ownership bans. In a ruling on August 3, a Chinese court ruled that the $10 million bitcoin loan agreement was void under the country’s bitcoin ban due to the lack of legal debt collection potential. . On August 14, a Chinese man was sentenced to nine months in prison for helping an acquaintance buy Tether (USDT) and gaining $20 from the transaction.
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