A man in Hebei Province, China, illegally raised funds using the concept of the "Metaverse" and was sentenced to five years and four months in prison

BlockBeats News, June 17th. The High Court of Hebei Province, China, released a typical case of cracking down on illegal fundraising. A man promoted an investment project packaged with the concept of the "Metaverse" to the public through the "Yishang Community" affiliated "Newmateworks" platform. He induced the masses to participate in the investment, directly introducing 19 investors who put in a total of ¥15.3936 million. Of this amount, ¥1.1014 million has been refunded, leaving ¥14.2922 million unrecovered.

The court ruled that in this case, the perpetrator used the emerging technology concept of the "Metaverse" as a cover to carry out fraudulent marketing, violating the country's financial management laws. The amount involved was huge, and the behavior constituted the crime of illegally absorbing public deposits. The defendant was sentenced to five years and four months in prison and fined.