BEIJING: Chinese authorities have arrested 21 people on suspicion of defrauding around 900,000 people of more than 50 billion yuan ($7.6 billion), state media reported, after an online peer-to-peer lender turned out to be a giant Ponzi scheme.

Ezubao offered investors annual returns of between nine percent and 14.6 percent on various projects, the official Xinhua news agency reported — far more than currently offered by Chinese banks’ wealth management products.

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