A Chinese businessman, infamous for his claims to have purchased an imaginary American bank, was sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday for making false value-added tax invoices worth 520 million yuan ($84.8 million).

Li Chunping, 43, from Wenzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province, was accused of making 1,266 false value-added tax invoices worth 520 million yuan and selling them to 315 companies across the country between September 2011 and May 2012, the Wenzhou Intermediate People's Court ruling said.

All of Li's personal wealth has been confiscated, according to the ruling, which also gave another six accomplices jail terms of less than 10 years, and two of them reprieves.

Xinhua