A court in Haikou, Hainan province, sentenced three members of an illegal private bank to prison terms of six years and one and a half years, after convicting them of illegal business dealing, Legal Daily reported on Thursday.

Liu Yue, Xie Chuxin and Xu Xiaocheng were charged by the people's procuratorate in the Xiuying district of Haikou with laundering 58.7 billion yuan ($9.6 billion) through online banking for 2,337 companies in 29 provinces.

Liu, the major culprit, was sentenced to six years in prison, and Xie and Xu were both sentenced to one and a half years in prison by the court.

The three were deemed to have conducted financial payment and settlement services without official approval, and made a total profit of 22.2 million yuan through the services that evaded financial supervision, according to prosecutors.