by Staff Writers
Beijing - A pair of Chinese forestry executives cheated thousands of investors out of 160 million dollars by selling off "timber lands" in a barren desert region, state-run Xinhua news agency reported on Thursday.
Chairman Chen Xianggui of Inner Mongolia's Wanli Afforestation Co. was sentenced to 11 years in prison by a court in the region while general manager Liu Yanying received nine years for the pyramid scheme, the report said.
The scam involved more than 30,000 people across the country, it added.
The company was involved in an "illegal pyramid scheme with false advertising" because it paid bonuses to members based on how many investors they brought in, it quoted a court in Baotou city as saying.
Inner Mongolia is a stark region of barren deserts and treeless, windswept grasslands in northern China.
Investors put in money with the promise that they would receive timber worth four times the original investment, Xinhua said. 
The report gave no further details.