English

NANJING, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- The founder of an online financial firm was charged with fund-raising fraud in east China's Jiangsu Province Tuesday.

The Nanjing Municipal People's Procuratorate initiated the public prosecution with the city's Intermediate People's Court against Zhang Xiaolei on charges of fund-raising fraud.

Zhang was the head of online financial firm Qbao.com. According to the Nanjing Municipal Public Security Bureau, Zhang turned himself in on Dec. 26, 2017. He was then transferred to the prosecutor for inquiry and indictment in July.

A previous investigation found that Zhang, who founded Qbao.com in 2012, used the platform to accumulate money from investors with alleged annual returns of 20 percent to 40 percent.

Qbao.com faked investment projects and companies and used funds from new depositors to pay off old debts. The site was found to have amassed over 100 billion yuan (14.7 billion U.S. dollars) and the unpaid principal totals 30 billion yuan.