Futures brokers busted for offering illegal consultation services

Fourteen suspects have been caught for allegedly offering illegal consultation services on futures trading, Shanghai police said on Monday.

The gang registered a tech company and signed a brokerage contract with a futures trading firm, but they had no authorization from the securities watchdog to provide consultation services on futures investment, police revealed.

This is said to be the first ever case of this kind on the Chinese mainland.

Police said they started their investigation after discovering that some people were offering such services without authorization through livestreaming on the Internet and soon identified the major suspects behind the illegal activity.

The suspects held livestreaming sessions on their own website and hired "lecturers" with no qualification in the business to give talks and offer advice to investors, police revealed.

They allegedly made false claims in recommending some futures products and charged abnormally high commission fees from their clients, through which they made more than 10 million yuan (US$1.5 million) in profit.

Two major suspects in the case have been arrested, while the rest are still under restrictive criminal measures, police said.