118 go on trial in China pyramid scam

NANNING - A total of 118 people continued their trial over a fund raising scam on Monday in a south China court.

The defendants, including leaders of the pyramid scheme, began their trial on Sunday at Nanning Intermediate People's Court in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

The ?multi-level marketing network, running since 2008, had nearly 2,000 members. Each new member was asked to pay 3,800 yuan to 69,800 yuan (from $600 to more than $11,000) on the promise of ?profits and promotions.

Members of the network came from several provinces or regions, including Xinjiang, Anhui, Sichuan, Shandong and Gansu. The "pure capital operation" scam involved more than 100 million yuan.

The ring was busted in April 2012. The trial is expected to last 11 days.

Pyramid selling has been banned in China since 1998 but has remained rife in many less-developed regions. In recent years, the fraud has evolved from touting fake products to more sophisticated fund-raising chicanery and extended its frontier onto the Internet.