Huang Guangyu, founder and former CEO of retail appliance and electronics dealer Gome Electronics, has been officially charged with bribery and insider trading, according to an interview with his lawyer reported on Sina.com.

The trial is expected to commence by the end of the month, said Huang's lawyer, Yang Zhaodong, senior partner with King & Capital Law Firm.

Huang faces as much as 10 years in prison for insider trading, with a maximum fine of five times the defalcated amount, and if convicted of bribery, he could spend 10 years to life behind bars.

Huang, formerly China's richest man with a net worth of $1.6 billion, has been in detention since November 2008, when the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) noticed irregularities in a stock purchase the self-made billionaire carried out in 2006.

Huang stepped down as chairman and CEO of China's largest appliance and electronics retailer in January 2009, but remains the primary shareholder and has been active in maintaining his stake.

Gome has attempted to weather the storm under the leadership of CEO Chen Xiao, who was appointed in January. The company said revenue for the first three quarters of the year increased 13.64 percent to reach 31.43 billion yuan ($460 million) over the same period last year. Profits continued to fall for the second consecutive year, however, with the firm posting a 965 million yuan ($141 million) loss over the pre-vious year, a 39 percent drop.

But some investors are still bullish on the retail giant, despite the controversy surrounding Huang. In June, Bain Capital, an American venture capital firm, injected $417 million into the company through a bond purchase, driving Gome's stock up by 70 percent after a 7-month trading suspension.

In a move coordinated from within prison, Huang thwarted Bain's attempt to enlarge its 10 percent stake in Gome through a new offering. Huang bought 816 million new shares in the company to increase his holdings from 33.7 percent to 34 percent, while Bain's stake only rose 0.2 percent.

Following Huang's stock maneuver, the CSRC moved to freeze his assets in Hong Kong, but the case has been bogged down by procedural complications, as the Special Adminis-trative Region has no official extradition agreement with the Chinese Mainland.