Shanghai police are investigating allegations of blackmail and extortion against 21st Century Media Co., China’s leading media group. According to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act blog (FCPA), more than 30 people working for 21st Century Business Herald (21CBH), Money weekly and the online news portal 21cbh.com are being investigated.

Chinese authorities have closed down the 21CBH news portal, and police have detained 21CBH chief editor Shen Hao and general manager Chen Dongyang, as well as other editors, marketing executives and publishers.

According to Reuters, the group extorted money or blackmailed more than 100 companies since November 2013. Companies that refused to advertise through the website were threatened with negative coverage, and ended up paying “protection money”.  The news portal usually charged between 200,000 and 300,000 yuan (US$ 33,000-49,000) to delete critical articles, forcing the companies to sign advertising contracts.

The FCPA blog writes that Shen, who was detained on Sept. 25, has confessed to the allegations along with some of the other detainees. He told Xinhua News, “I have set very high revenue targets for editors, encouraging them to seek clients through blackmailing. I organized, supported, coordinated and participated in the extortion; I must bear a big responsibility.”

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