File photo of the Shanghai-based Zhongjin Capital Management Company. [Photo: nhd.com.cn]

More than 20 people with links to a Shanghai-based investment company, Zhongjin Capital Management Company, have been detained on suspicion of illegal fundraising.

According to the police in Shanghai, the controller of the company, Xu Qin, was detained at an airport on Monday, after they received a tip off about the company.

The Economic Crime Investigation Division of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau says other members of Zhongjin's core team were also detained in the operation, which took place on Tuesday.

Founded in 2012, Zhongjin has over 50 subsidiaries and has invested in over 100 partnership companies across China. A statement from Shanghai Police said the company defrauded investors with non-existent programs and was involved in illegal fundraising.

Police haven't said how much money was involved, but some reports talk of more than 130,000 investors involved, with the firm raising at least 34 billion yuan, or about 5.3 billion US dollars.

Investigations are still underway. This is the latest case of financial fraud to emerge in China.

In January, China's central government promised severe punishments for illegal fund-raisers after an online peer-to-peer platform, Ezubao, was found to have cheated about 900,000 investors out of more than 50 billion yuan, or about 7.6 billion U.S. dollars through fake investments.

An executive from the parent company admitted that it was nothing but a Ponzi scheme, whereby returns are paid from capital paid by new investors, rather than from profits earned by the operator.