Woman who marred reputation of China's Red Cross gets 5 years in jail on gambling charges

BEIJING – A Chinese woman who marred the reputation of the country's Red Cross has been sentenced to five years in jail for running gambling activities.

Dongcheng District Court in the Chinese capital of Beijing said Thursday that Guo Meimei ran casino operations out of private apartments in Beijing with bets totaling nearly 3 million yuan ($500,000).

Guo became notorious in 2011, when she claimed to be related to the Red Cross Society of China and posted photos flaunting her extravagant lifestyle, including a Maserati, on social media. Although Guo later retracted her Red Cross connections, the damage was done as the incident raised doubts over the charity's credibility.

Members of the public have since boycotted donations to the charity, whose operations remain opaque.