China's "copper king" sentenced to life in prison Chinese billionaire Jinbei, who made his fortune in the copper trade, received a life sentence for fraud and other crimes, reports Bloomberg. The court found that his company's activities exposed the Chinese banks to losses of more than a billion dollars. In its heyday, Mike handled one out of every four tons of copper imported into China. The company, founded in 1993, was one of the largest players in the metal market. Mike's financial problems began in 2022, and the company filed for bankruptcy a year later. The businessman's defense denied any intention to commit fraud and claimed that some of the creditors' problems were related to insufficient risk control.