YISHIDUN, an international trading company that illegally profited more than 389 million yuan (US$57 million) from futures market manipulation, faces seizure of its ill-gotten gains and a 300 million yuan fine, according to Shanghai No.1 Intermediate People’s Court.

Two former executives, Gao Yan and Liang Zezhong, were granted three-year reprieves from jail sentences of three years and two and half years respectively. Gao was fined 1 million yuan, and Liang 800,000 yuan.

Jin Wenxian, technical supervisor of China Fortune Futures, joined in the “malicious trading,” pocketing 13.48 million yuan from his firm. He was sentenced to five years behind bars for two counts and fined 600,000 yuan.

Yishidun International Trading Co was set up in the Zhangjiagang Free Trade Zone, Jiangsu Province, in 2012.

From June 2013, the firm ran 26 accounts to trade stock futures.

From 2015, it started to use illegal stock futures trading software that can spot emerging trends in a fraction of a second. In just one month or so, the firm frequently traded China’s index futures, gaining favorable returns but severely destabilizing the market.

The high volatility of the market alerted supervisors. Shanghai police announced in November 2015 they had busted the case and the three were arrested.