Business in brief: Chinese finance businessman arrested on suspected $7.6 billion fraud

BEIJING – Police arrested the maverick founder of China’s largest online finance business on suspicion of fleecing 900,000 investors of $7.6 billion, in what could be the biggest financial fraud in Chinese history.

State media outlets reported the arrest of Ding Ning and 20 of his employees late Sunday. State broadcaster CCTV aired purported confessions from two former employees at Ezubao, an Anhui province outfit that rose from obscurity to become China’s largest online financing platform in the span of about 18 months.

Consumer spending flat as savings rate climbs

WASHINGTON – U.S. consumers kept their spending flat in December and instead boosted their savings rate to the highest level in three years.

Consumer spending was unchanged in December after rising 0.5 percent in November, the Commerce Department reported Monday. Incomes increased 0.3 percent, matching November’s gain.

Higher incomes and flat spending pushed the savings rate to 5.5 percent of after-tax income in December.

Thailand intensifies

seafood crackdown

BANGKOK – Thailand, which faces possible trade sanctions over abuses in its seafood industry, says it has accelerated its fight against human trafficking and unregulated fishing.

Deputy national police chief Thammasak Witcharaya said Monday that in the eight months since a task force was set up to combat fishing industry abuses, it has investigated 36 cases, arrested 102 suspects and rescued 130 presumed trafficking victims. In the 16 months prior to that, only 15 cases were investigated.

Lumber Liquidators

to pay $13 million

NEW YORK – Lumber Liquidators will pay more than $13 million for illegally importing hardwood flooring, after the company pleaded guilty to environmental crimes last year.

The Department of Justice said Lumber Liquidators made hardwood floors in China from illegally cut Mongolian oak trees in Russia. Those trees are needed to protect endangered Siberian tigers and Amur leopards because their prey eats the acorns from them, the Justice Department said.

Delta apologizes for attendants’ altercation

ATLANTA – Delta Air Lines is apologizing to passengers after a confrontation between two flight attendants last month led pilots to make an unscheduled landing halfway through the trip.

The airline said the actions of the crew members didn’t reflect the professionalism expected of employees.

The Aviation Herald, a website that tracks accidents and other incidents involving planes, said Delta Flight 2598 was headed from Los Angeles to Minneapolis on Jan. 22 when two flight attendants got into a fistfight and the captain decided to land in Salt Lake City.