Beijing People's Procuratorate has begun criminal proceedings against companies and dozens of individuals implicated in a huge fraud case involving tens of billions of yuan.

Ezubao, an online peer-to-peer lending platform, had cheated members of the public out of nearly 60 billion yuan (8.6 billion U.S. dollars) through fake investment projects the company advertized on its website from June 2014 to December 2015.

The company defaulted on loans worth nearly 38 billion yuan, which lead to the the initial investigation.

Ezubao's parent companies Yucheng Holdings and Yucheng Global along with 10 people will stand trial on charges of fraudulent fund-raising while 16 other individuals face charges of illegally absorbing public deposits.

The defendants were also prosecuted for smuggling precious metals, illegally possessing weapons and undocumented border-crossing.