Hebei Higher Court: A man was sentenced to 5 years and 4 months in prison for illegally raising over 15 million yuan under the guise of the metaverse concept

Odaily reported: The Hebei Higher Court has released a typical case of cracking down on illegal fundraising. A man, using the "metaverse" concept to package investment projects, promoted virtual commodity investment projects under the "Newmateworks" platform of the "Eshang United Community" to the public, inducing people to invest. He directly introduced 19 investors who invested a total of 15.3936 million yuan into the platform. Of this amount, 1.1014 million yuan has been refunded, while 14.2922 million yuan remains unreturned. The court found that the case involved fraudulent marketing under the cover of emerging tech concepts like the "metaverse," which violated national financial management regulations. Due to the large amount involved, the defendant’s actions constituted the crime of illegally absorbing public deposits. Chen was sentenced to five years and four months in prison and fined.