(CFP)

Wu Ying, 31, former boss of Bense Group, a business conglomerate based in east China's Zhejiang Province, received the death sentence for cheating investors out of several hundred million yuan in January. The sentence upheld the results of a previous trial at the Jinhua Intermediate People's Court in December 2009.

From May 2005 to February 2007, Wu raised 770 million yuan ($122 million) by promising high returns to investors. She still had 380 million yuan ($60.3 million) unpaid debt with creditors when the case was uncovered. Wu amassed the fortune by fabricating facts, deliberately hiding the truth, and promising high returns as an incentive. Most companies she registered haven't actually been opened or are losing money all the time.

The death-sentence verdict has sparked a heated controversy in society, with netizens calling for a more lenient punishment. A report from Xinhua news agency said that the controversy stirred by Wu's death sentence showed the urgency of the reform in China's financial system.