Ponzi Scheme In China Stole $7.6 Billion From Investors, Police Say

It was billed as a successful peer-to-peer lending company. Instead, police say, online lender Ezubao used fake business listings to take in about 50 billion yuan ($7.6 billion) from nearly 1 million people who thought they would get a 14 percent return.

More than 20 people who are suspected of playing major roles in Ezubao's fraud were arrested in January. One month earlier, authorities froze the company's operations, setting off a panic among investors in the massive Chinese peer-to-peer lender.

The case is the largest fraud ever reported in China. If it had occurred in the U.S., it would rank behind only the $17 billion in investments that Bernie Madoff stole, and narrowly ahead of the $7.2 billion fraud perpetrated by Robert Allen Stanford.

According to local media, some businesses had no idea they were touted as investment opportunities by Ezubao, and in a type of corporate identity theft, they say their business and tax information was stolen.

State news agency Xinhua spoke to high-ranking employees who provided more details: