Investment Guru's supernatural powers haven't made Chinese followers whole

To his followers, Sui Guangyi was a visionary who made his investment decisions based on the principles of Taoism, Zen Buddhism and the I Ching. For more than a decade, they poured their savings into the wealth management products he hustled, some offering annualized returns as high as 160%.

But in their pursuit of money, many of Sui's investors forgot the Taoist saying: "Gathering too much wealth must lead to huge losses." That aphorism has now become a reality as redemptions on their high-yield investments have been suspended and dividend payments halted.