Text: Xiao Chu
From a rural fishmonger to an inspirational Internet celebrity, the godfather of online loans, and then to a 100 billion fraudster.
Zhou Shiping's life can be said to be full of ups and downs.
It took 12 years to collect 139.5 billion.
When the mask was exposed and the scam was exposed, Zhou Shiping could not escape the punishment of the law and was sentenced to life imprisonment.
How did this fish vendor with only a high school education blind countless investors?
In February 1968, Zhou Shiping was born in a rural family in Rugao, Jiangsu.
Like most people in that era, Zhou Shiping's family had many brothers and sisters, and his family was poor.
After graduating from high school, Zhou Shiping did not choose to continue his studies, but chose to go out to earn a living.
During this period, he worked in a factory in his hometown, and in his spare time, he also sold aquatic products in order to subsidize his family.
Living a life of multiple hats is undoubtedly tiring.
The monthly income is a drop in the bucket compared to daily expenses.
This also made Zhou Shiping realize that this is not a long-term solution.
In 1993, Zhou Shipingkai began to focus on the domestic securities market and the value research of listed companies for a long time.
But in the case that dreams and strength are not equal, all Zhou Shiping can do is to lie dormant and wait for the opportunity.
With years of hard accumulation, Zhou Shiping has a small deposit in his hand.
This also allowed him to start entering the stock market little by little, perhaps because of his talent, or maybe it was a bonus of luck, during this period, Zhou Shiping has been making steady profits without losing money, which also doubled his confidence.
In 1996, in just three years, Zhou Shiping's stocks and cash in his hands were as high as more than 600,000.
More than 600,000 in 96 years, the gold content can be imagined.
It is said that 10,000 yuan in 96 years is equivalent to 50,000 yuan now.
Not to mention, at that time when the masses were generally paid dead wages.
Such sudden wealth and profits also made Zhou Shiping more and more crazy, so he lost his previous caution.
In 1997, Zhou Shiping was almost a gambler's desperate mentality, putting all his savings into it, and he was not satisfied, but also wanted to make a big profit, so he borrowed from relatives and friends, and invested more than 3 million yuan in the stock market.
thought that he would turn over his roots and become a rich man, but he didn't want to, this time fate did not favor Zhou Shiping.
At that time, it coincided with the Asian financial crisis, and China's stock market was also strongly impacted.
Years of savings came to naught, and in an instant, he was saddled with a sky-high debt.
Zhou Shiping's wife couldn't bear this status quo and chose to divorce and take away her daughter.
The once happy family of three instantly became a bubble.
Before he had time to grieve, Zhou Shiping was saddled with a lawsuit.
A 72-year-old man who followed Zhou Shiping to speculate in stocks accepted such a status quo because of the law, and he was so angry that he sued Zhou Shiping in court and demanded compensation.
After learning that Zhou Shiping's compensation had been lost, his relatives and friends demanded to repay the arrears.
In the face of this anxious and messy situation, if you change someone with a slightly weaker mind, I am afraid that you have already jumped down.
But Zhou Shiping gritted his teeth and survived.
From 1997 to 2005, for a long eight years, Zhou Shiping has been paying off his debts.
Even when I went to Shenzhen in 2005 to buy a train ticket, I still had to borrow money to get to Shenzhen
Almost everyone thinks that Zhou Shiping's life has been determined, and it is a long journey to repay debts at a glance.
Who would have thought that Zhou Shiping would be able to make a comeback and turn the tables against the wind.
Putting aside everything else for the time being, let's just talk about Zhou Shiping's temperament first, I have to say that he is a hero.
As the old saying goes, once bitten by a snake for ten years, you are afraid of grass rope.
Who would have thought that Zhou Shiping would have the courage to contact the stock market again when his debts were not paid.
However, I have to say that it is Zhou Shiping's heart that has created his success.
In 2005, China's stock market underwent a huge turnaround, and Zhou Shiping, who was keenly aware of this, once again devoted himself to the stock market desperately in the doubts of those around him.
As it turned out, this time he was right.
The stock market that year was known as a bull market, and almost all the investors who seized the opportunity profited from it.
Zhou Shiping also won the title of "grassroots stock god" and repaid all his debts in 2007.
In 2008, Zhou Shiping targeted an online lending platform.
To this end, Zhou Shipinghai specially hired several technicians, after nearly a year of research and development. A lending service website called Hongling Venture Capital was officially launched.
In the first year of its launch, the website brought 80 million transactions to Zhou Shiping.
With such huge profits, it is natural to go public. In 2010, Zhou Shiping established Shenzhen Hongling Venture Capital E-commerce Co., Ltd. with a registered capital of 60 million.
It is said that a family has a woman who asks for it, and if it is placed in the business world, a money-making business will naturally not attract countless people.
Since then, more and more online lending has sprung up.
It can be said that on almost every APP, there is such an online lending, which tempts consumers to take out loans and overdraft consumption.
Although the follow-up Internet finance has emerged in an endless stream and many capitals have gone down, as the first person to eat the sweetness and cake, no one has been able to shake the leading position of the Hongling venture capital industry.
If it stops there, Zhou Shiping's life may not be a legend.
But it's a pity that greed is not enough to swallow elephants.
In 2015, Zhou Shiping's company highlighted the problem, due to the increasing number of people who could not repay the debt, Zhou Shiping's company instantly had a bad debt of 500 million yuan.
If I were someone else, I am afraid that I would have been so frightened that I didn't know what to do.
But Zhou Shiping is worthy of being a person who has experienced strong winds and waves.
He quickly stabilized his mood and found a way back for himself.
While maintaining the status quo and not showing a declining appearance, in 2019, Zhou Shiping suddenly issued a liquidation statement at the Ling Venture Capital Forum. And claim that they can get high returns, be able to minimize losses, and achieve principal and interest protection.
Out of trust in Zhou Shiping and the big company behind him, he couldn't resist such a tempting bait.
Many financial planners have taken the bait and used the money to invest.
And Zhou Shiping used the money to make up for the company's shortcomings.
Perhaps it is a premonition that the end is coming, in terms of enjoyment, Zhou Shiping is extraordinarily generous, focusing on one that does not treat himself badly at all,
As the saying goes, the real can't be fake, and the fake can't be true.
In 2021, the agreed three-year period has arrived, but Zhou Shiping has never been able to fulfill his original promise, and even the original principal of investors cannot be recovered.
This also made many investors panic, and the Shenzhen Futian police immediately took relevant actions after receiving the report.
It is reported that from the launch of Hongling Venture Capital in 2009 to the East Window incident in 2021, Zhou Shiping has illegally absorbed about 109 billion yuan of public deposits from more than 480,000 people. As many as 74 people were involved.
In November 2021, with the approval of the procuratorate, the police arrested 74 people, including the criminal suspect Zhou Shiping, on suspicion of fundraising fraud and illegally absorbing public deposits.
But Zhou Shiping was obviously not willing to accept his fate, and after many appeals, in May 2024 this year, the verdict of the second instance was announced, and the final result was reached.
Zhou Shiping's appeal was dismissed, the original verdict was upheld, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment, deprivation of political rights for life, and confiscation of all personal property.
epilogue
Although Zhou Shiping pleaded guilty and surrendered to the law, he was duly punished.
But the losses of investors are difficult to compensate.
Finally, the author would like to say that there is no such thing as pie falling from the sky, and we must remain vigilant in the face of attractive interests.
Because no one knows if it will be a poisonous bait.
bibliography
Beijing Business Daily, absorbing more than 480,000 people with deposits of more than 100 million yuan" Hongling Venture Capital illegal fund-raising case upheld the original verdict in the second instance