Shanghai police began an investigation on Thursday into the unauthorized sale of fixed-income financial agreements by Shanghai Fanxin Insurance Agency Co Ltd.

Chen Yi, general manager of Fanxin, is rumored to have fled overseas with 500 million yuan ($81.7 million).

The Shanghai branch of China Insurance Regulatory Commission said it would cooperate with local police to investigate the case and protect the legal rights of consumers.

The commission fined Fanxin 50,000 yuan for its sales representatives' misleading sales on March 1.

Fanxin was founded in July 2007 and started to sell personal life insurance in 2010. The company's new insurance premium amounted to 150 million yuan in 2011, overtaking all the other insurance companies in Shanghai.

Its new insurance premium exceeded 480 million yuan in 2012, up 200 percent year-on-year.