Hong Kong ( CNN ) China has executed a mining tycoon found guilty of murder and running a `` mafia-style '' organization , state media reported Monday . Liu Han , 48 , the former chairman of Hanlong Group , was executed along with his brother , Liu Wei , and three associates , official news agency Xinhua reported . The men met with their families before they were executed , Xinhua said . Liu has been linked by state media to former security czar Zhou Yongkang -- the most senior official snared in China 's anti-corruption campaign . Hanlong 's interests included mining , real estate , electricity , energy and finance and the company remains a shareholder in two Australian companies - Moly Group and Sundance Resources . Liu was detained in 2013 along with his younger brother . They were sentenced to death in May 2014 . The Liu brothers started out running gambling dens in their base in Guanghan , in China 's southwestern Sichuan province , in the early 1990s , gathering around them `` a gang of local thugs and vagrants , '' state media reported around the time of their trial . The brothers ' empire grew , before finally attracting the attention of central authorities with an alleged public shooting at a Guanghan teahouse one afternoon in January , 2009 , supposedly ordered by Liu Wei and directed at an underworld rival . Liu Han also developed a reputation as a philanthropist , building a rural school campus following a 2008 earthquake that devastated Sichuan . His brother also had a reputation for charity , and had been a torch-bearer in the build-up to the Beijing Olympics , also in 2008 . CNN 's Tim Hume contributed to this report .
China has executed a mining tycoon found guilty of murder and running a ` ` mafia - style '' organization . Liu Xi , 48 , the former chairman of Hanlong Group , was executed along with his brother , Liu Yong , and three associates . He was linked to former security chief Zhou Yongkang - the most senior official snared in China 's anti - corruption campaign .