A Chinese court on Friday sentenced a British corporate investigator to 2½ years in prison for illegally obtaining private records of Chinese citizens and selling the information on to clients including drug maker GlaxoSmithKline PLC.
Peter Humphrey and his American wife, Yu Yingzeng, who ran risk consultancy ChinaWhys, were tried in a Shanghai court. They said they were unaware such acts were criminal.
In a late evening verdict, the court said it found Humphrey and Yu guilty and handed Yu a slightly more lenient sentence of two years in jail. Humphrey was fined 200,000 yuan ($32,500), while Yu was fined 150,000 yuan ($23,360).