Ex-Bank of China money launderers jailed in U.S. for $485 million scam

Two ex-Bank of China managers (and their wives) have been given lengthy sentences for their parts in an elaborate scheme to swindle money out of China and move to the United States. The couples laundered money from China into false corporations and personal accounts in Hong Kong, Canada and the U.S. and obtained false identities and entered into fake marriages to settle in Las Vegas. They were eventually arrested in 2004 and found guilty last year. Xu Chaofan and Xu Guojun, the two banking masterminds, were given 25 and 22 years each respectively. Their wives both got eight years each. Still, their sentences sound much more preferable to the fate of a third manager, Yu Zhengdong, who actually helped authorities catch the wayward bankers - despite his cooperation with investigators, he is now languishing in a Chinese jail. Source: BBC