Liang Yaohui, a former deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, and the owner of a five-star hotel involved in the sex trade, was given a life sentence Tuesday.

Liang was charged with organizing prostitution, collusive tendering and bribery by a court in south China's Dongguan, where a high-profile crackdown on prostitution took place in 2014.

According to the court, Liang's hotel had been offering prostitution services since 2004 and illegally gained nearly 40 million yuan (6 million U.S. dollars) in 2013.

Liang was also accused of colluding in entering bids which inflicted serious losses on national assets, and bribing a deputy manager of local power company for lower noncommercial electricity charges.

Liang appealed in court.