A man was sentenced to death Tuesday in south China's Guangdong Province for forging counterfeit yuan notes with a par value of 170 million yuan with 15 other gang members.

Xiao Guihong, the ring leader, was given the death penalty in the first-instance trial, according to a verdict released by the Dongguan City Intermediate People's Court.

The other 15 ring members were given sentences ranging from death with a reprieve to a year and 10 months in prison, the verdict said.

The 16 members were also ordered to pay fines ranging from 350,000 yuan (54,400 U.S. dollars) to 60,000 yuan.

The gang members made an illegal profit of 1.8 million yuan from selling fake yuan notes worth 56 million yuan in total par value in August 2009, according to the court.

Police confiscated the rest of the notes with a par value of 114 million yuan in two raids in the same year.