Ex-manager of stock exchange control agency accused of bribery in China sentenced to death

In the case held in Chingdu, the administrative center of Sichuan province, the court ruled that Yi received assets worth a total of 436 million yuan ($65.4 million) in cash and real estate as bribes by abusing his administrative positions in the CSRC and Xinjiang Uyghur Region administration during the 1998-2025 period.

The court decided to give the former ruler the death penalty with a 2-year postponement, ban him from political rights for life, and confiscate his personal assets.

The court stated that Yi confessed to his crimes, explained the crime facts that were not yet known to the investigators, and expressed his remorse. The court stated that some crimes remained at the level of enterprise and that his sentence was commuted with a postponement because some of the crimes remained at the enterprise level and Yi returned some of the assets he obtained through bribery.

According to Chinese law, the defendant's sentence will be commuted to life imprisonment if he does not commit a crime for 2 years.

Second president to face corruption investigation

Yi, who served as chairman of CSRC between 2019 and 2024, was dismissed in 2024 when Class A shares in the Shanghai Stock Exchange fell to the lowest level in the last 5 years.

62-year-old Yi, who studied statistics, became general manager in 2013 and chairman of the board of directors in 2016 after working at different levels at the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, one of the largest banks in China and the world.

Yi, who took over as head of the CSRC in 2019, became the second president to be investigated for corruption in this institution. Yi's predecessor, CSRC Chairman Liu Xiyu, was also accused of accepting bribes and favoritism in share sales in his hometown, Ciansu province.

Audit institution is on target

Following the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in October 2022, with the renewal of the staff of the party's Central Disciplinary Investigation Commission, corruption investigations expanded to public banks, wealth funds and regulatory institutions in the financial sector.

Since the party disciplinary authority launched the investigation focusing on the CSRC in April 2024, several senior executives of the institution have been detained.

An investigation was launched against Vang Humin, the former chairman of the Disciplinary Commission of the CSRC, in March 2025, 6 years after his retirement.

It was reported that an investigation was launched against the current Vice President of the institution, Vang Ciencün, in May 2025.

CSRC's Science and Technology Supervision Department Director Yao Qien, Jiangsu Province Director Ling Feng, Xinjiang Bureau Director Qin Xiaoping, Shanghai Stock Exchange Deputy General Manager Dong Guojin and some officials responsible for the supervision of public offering transactions were investigated.