A Philippine court convicted a former mayor, who officials say is a Chinese national, of human trafficking charges for helping establish an illegal online gaming complex in a northern province where hundreds of Chinese and other foreign nationals were forced to conduct scams.

The court in Manila sentenced Alice Guo to life in prison with seven other Filipino and Chinese co-accused, ordered them to pay a fine of 2 million pesos ($34,000) each, and to compensate several trafficking victims who filed the complaints. Guo denied all allegations against her and says she is a Filipino citizen.