A Madoff-style fraudster who swindled 660 million yuan from a bank in the form of loans has been jailed for life at a Beijing court.

Two bankers who helped with the con were also jailed.

Xie Genrong, who was listed among the country's richest people in 2003, was convicted of loan fraud at the city's No 1 Intermediate Court.

Yan Linzhuang, head of China Construction Bank's Beijing Economic-Technological Area Branch, and his deputy, Zhao Feng, were sentenced to 20 and 19 years each for fabricating materials to help Xie cover the fraud.

Xie, who founded Huaersen Group in 1995, had an estimated net worth of 620 million yuan in 2003.

The group, which had many subsidiaries, was involved in property development, logistics and hotel investment.

However, the whole empire may have been smoke and mirrors from the beginning, according to the Mirror Evening News, which quoted a senior executive of Huaersen Group as saying the company had always operated "in debt" and survived on bank loans.

Xie even allegedly fabricated its registered capital, the report said.

In September 2000, Zhongding property company, which was part of the group, won a project for a commercial building in the Beijing Economic-Technological Area.

To get the project started, Xie convened a meeting of the group's senior staff and asked them to "finance" the project by applying for loans from banks individually in the name of housing loans.

When they secured the money, they handed it to the company and Xie promised to pay back the investment after the project was completed. Some 555 people secured more than 600 million yuan for housing loans from China Construction Bank's branches in the city.

However, instead of using the loan to buy properly, Xie squandered most of the money on his luxurious lifestyle and paid old debts.

To boost the group's image, Xie rented an office in the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse. He also bought several premium cars, including a Bentley, Rolls-Royce and Mercedes-Benz, and registered them in his son's name.

And he once gambled away more than 12 million yuan during a trip to Macao, the report said.

At the beginning of 2003, the building project was suspended because the construction team had not been paid.

Meanwhile, during an audit, China Construction Bank's Beijing Economic-Technological Area Branch found irregularities in the company's bank account.

The bank branch head, Yan, and Zhao immediately sensed something was wrong and asked Xie for an explanation.

Xie denied loan fraud and provided fake documentation.

In his later confession, Yan said he knew Xie was lying but he decided to help him cover up the fraud because he feared he would lose his job if it was discovered.

Yan and his deputy, Zhao, then fabricated more documentation to help Xie.

In February 2008, while auditing the Beijing Branch of Construction Bank, the National Audit Office found a large number of the bank's non-performing loans were associated with Huaersen Group.

All the evidence pointed to Xie. Xie, Yan and Zhao were detained in March 2008.