"Do you know what Nasdaq is?" "You can become an employee of the option network, exchange option points for original shares and become a millionaire" ... on a website called w ww. Zhiduoxing Two middle-aged people from Hangzhou have woven a dream of "getting rich online" for tourists. However, when I woke up, it was a warning that a rare illegal pyramid scheme was smashed and the founder of the website was sentenced to jail for violating the criminal law. The lure of the internet Three years ago, Acheng and Daqiang from Hangzhou, who were in their early forties, came to Shanghai and jointly founded a small company called Shanghai Jiadao Technology Co., Ltd. ... Using the advantages of network technology, they formed a partnership with another marketing company at the beginning of their business, which formulated a series of marketing rules. "Drive to" is responsible for managing a commercial website called "Yinfeng Drive to". Com, the two sides share the profits of network business. Soon, Acheng and Daqiang realized the marketing model of "Yinfeng Family Road". Com "is similar to pyramid selling activities explicitly prohibited by the state, but in order to make a profit, they still form a partnership with each other until the two sides parted ways for funds." "They can do it, why can't we do it ourselves?" Acheng and Daqiang formulated a series of online marketing rules in a short time, and began to open the "home network" in August 2000. The website stipulates that visitors can join the "option network staff" of the website at will; Each "employee" shall be submitted to the company 650 yuan, and other "employees" shall introduce the development; In return, every three "employees" will be rewarded to 400 yuan, and every 30 employees will be rewarded to 1500 yuan ... The maximum number of employees is 8 10, which is 1.62 million yuan; It is also promised that when the company goes public, each "option network employee" can redeem points according to the number of "employees" and subscribe for the original shares of the company in proportion. Under the temptation of numbers and nouns such as Nasdaq and Primitive Shares, Home Road Network has attracted many employees of Option Network to join, and its behavior has also aroused the vigilance of industrial and commercial law enforcement departments. "In the way. Com "is a pyramid scheme in disguise. In June of 20001year, the industrial and commercial department of Luwan District received a report and thoroughly investigated and dealt with "Jiadao". Com "and jiadao company. According to the preliminary investigation, there were nearly 2,450 employees in various options networks in Jiadao.com at that time, and the amount involved was nearly 1 10,000 yuan. After screening, law enforcement departments believe that the various business behaviors of "home network" conform to the characteristics of the state's identification of pyramid schemes and disguised pyramid schemes, and belong to new disguised pyramid schemes. Because the amount involved in the pyramid scheme of "Home Road Network" reached the legal requirement of "serious circumstances", the industrial and commercial department immediately handed over the case to the police for investigation. On 2001June 19, Daqiang was criminally detained by the police on suspicion of illegal business operation. On July 1 day, the police issued an online pursuit order against Acheng for the same reason. On August 3, Acheng, who fled Shanghai, was arrested in Bengbu, Anhui. On July 5, 2002, Luwan Court sentenced Daqiang and Acheng to five, six and six years' imprisonment respectively for the crime of illegal business operation, and fined 654.38 million yuan and 30,000 yuan. Because they refused to accept the verdict, Daqiang and Acheng later appealed to the First Intermediate People's Court. In the sophistry of "crime and non-crime" in the appeal, Daqiang and Acheng proposed that they had never engaged in illegal pyramid schemes subjectively; Even if illegal pyramid selling constitutes a crime, it should be a unit crime and the law should not punish individuals. City No.1 Intermediate People's Court believes that Daqiang and Acheng, as the main leaders of Jiadao, are not only well aware of the MLM business model implemented by the company, but also organize and formulate a series of marketing systems such as sales preferences and subsidy implementation rules, which have the subjective intention of illegal business. At the same time, according to the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Relevant Issues Concerning the Specific Application of Law in the Trial of Unit Crime Cases, if a company takes crime as its main activity after its establishment, it will not be treated as a unit crime. From the establishment to the crime, Jiadao Company has no evidence to prove that it has engaged in activities other than illegal business, so it should not be punished as a unit crime. Recently, City No.1 Intermediate People's Court made a final judgment on this criminal case triggered by a new pyramid scheme and upheld the original judgment. The conclusion shows that using the Internet to engage in illegal pyramid schemes may constitute a personal crime. Morning News reporter Luo Jianhua