Police freeze assets held by mother of Xu Xiang

Chinese police slapped a two-year freeze on more than $670 million of shares owned by the mother of Xu Xiang, the Shanghai hedge fund boss under investigation for alleged insider trading and stock manipulation.

Two companies, one in Beijing and one in Nantong in Jiangsu province, reported the freeze on stakes held by Xu's mother, Zheng Suzhen, in statements to the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Monday night. Zheng has not been named by authorities as being under investigation.

Xu, one of China's highest-profile and top-performing money managers, is among the targets of a Chinese government crackdown that spans executives at brokerage CITIC Securities Co Ltd and officials at the China Securities Regulatory Commission after a $5 trillion summer stock market rout.