Scammers boast the water product as "NASA-certified." (photo: rednet.cn)

A procuratorate in East China's Anhui Province indicted a local company that was engaged in organizing and leading a 900 million-yuan ($139.9 million) pyramid scheme, Chinese media Procuratorial Daily reported on Friday.

A local court sentenced a key member of the pyramid scheme surnamed Yan 10 years in prison, and fined him 1 million yuan, for the crime of organizing and leading the pyramid selling activities, Procuratorial Daily reported.

Another key member surnamed Wang was sentenced eight years and six months in prison and fined 900,000 yuan for the same crime, it said.

What the involved company sold was a self-claimed "life energy water" product that "consists of ancient ocean water." 

Naming it "SSG Life Mineral Liquid (or SSGLML)," the company boasted the water as "the world's only quantum-grade product" and was even "certified by the US' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)."

The Global Times didn't see any information related to this product on websites of NASA and related institutes on Friday.

Earlier, local police in Anhui had investigated the product and found it was merely ordinary underground water, China National Radio reported in November 2019.

The scammers nonetheless illegally sold the water at an unreasonably high price of 1,000 yuan per bottle (35 milliliters). They promoted the water as a cure-all that those who drink will "recover from various diseases" and "retain youthful vigor."

Apart from water, the scammers also sold products including massage chairs and foot wash basins, claiming these products "had blockchain technology" inside.

This obvious deception had attracted more than 49,000 people across China to become members of the pyramid scheme since 2016, involving nearly 900 million yuan in total, the procuratorate said.

The business license of involved company was revoked on May 13, the Global Times reporter found on qcc.com, a Chinese corporate database. Its current name is Zhongzichuanglian Blockchain Technology Development & Application Limited Company, qcc.com showed.

Global Times