Businesswoman accused of defrauding actor

A case of a Chinese actor who says he was defrauded in a property purchase was heard in a Beijing court on Monday.

Fang Zige, the movie and TV actor, said he was cheated of about 3.93 million yuan ($648,000) when he and his wife signed a property purchase contract with businesswoman Li Jialin, according to the Beijing No 1 People's Procuratorate.

The condo Fang bought was located at Qianhe Jiayuan, a community on the North Fourth Ring Road in Beijing's Chaoyang district, the prosecuting authority said, adding that the purchase took place from June 2012 to February 2013.

Yan Zhen, Fang's wife, said Li hid the information that the property had been mortgaged in 2012, prosecutors said.

After an earlier investigation by authorities, Li was sentenced to 11 years in prison for contract fraud in 2001 and released on parole in October 2007.

Prosecutors said they prosecuted Li as per the Criminal Law, because the amount of money she cheated Fang of was huge and the facts were clear.

In addition, the authority suggested the court give heavy punishment to the defendant, as she was a recidivist.

The case is continuing.