France, May 17 -- The sentenced 63-year-old Naijie Qu is a wealthy businessman, Bordeaux wine enthusiasist and head of Haichang Group, a trading and shipping conglomerate with interests in property, tourism and agriculture based in the northeastern Chinese port city of Dalian.

Haichang was one of the most ambitious investors in a Chinese buying spree of France's most famous wine-growing regions in the early 2010s.

But the millionaire's adventure came to an end on Wednesday before the Paris Criminal Court who sentenced the Chinese entrepreneur to a suspended three-year jail term with a fine of one million euros.

The fine was 400,000 euros more than requested by prosecutors, who had asked for a four-year suspended jail term.

The court ...