LAS VEGAS - TWO former Bank of China managers and their wives were handed lengthy jail terms on Wednesday for their parts in a scam that saw them steal US$485 million (S$714 million), US justice authorities said.

The two men, Xu Chaofan and Xu Guojun, were convicted by a federal jury in Las Vegas last August of masterminding the intricate plot that came to light after a bank audit in 2001.

Xu Chaofan was sentenced to 25 years in prison while Xu Guojun was handed a 22-year jail term. Both wives of the men received eight years in prison each and all four were ordered to pay US$482 million in restitution. A third bank manager, Yu Zhendong, had pleaded guilty and cooperated with US government prosecutors trying the case.

Xu Chaofan, Xu Guojun and Yu had fled to the United States in 2001 when their theft was discovered in an audit. Yu was later repatriated to China and jailed for 12 years in 2006.

During last year's trial, jurors heard how the managers laundered stolen millions through a network of accounts in Hong Kong, Canada and the United States, where they had planned to immigrate.

All five defendants were charged with a criminal conspiracy that began in 1991 and continued until October 2004 when the former bank managers and their wives were arrested.

The court heard how the former bank managers created a series of shell corporations in Hong Kong which were used to funnel the cash into personal bank and investment accounts. Some of the money ended up on gaming tables at Las Vegas casinos, where the accused would frequently lay lavish bets of up to US$80,000.

All five defendants also were convicted of engaging in a money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to transport stolen money. Xu Chaofan and Xu Guojun were also convicted on three counts each of visa fraud.

'We will hold fully accountable those foreign nationals who abuse the financial systems of their home countries and who then, by fraudulent means, seek to live richly off their ill-gotten gains in the United States,' US Government prosecutor Lanny Breuer said in a statement.

'Despite the best efforts of these defendants to avoid detection, their scheme first to steal nearly 500 million dollars from a Chinese bank, and then to hide themselves and the money in the United States, was exposed thanks to the tireless efforts of federal agents and prosecutors. -- AFP