Two officials from Wukan had been expelled from the Communist Party over illegal land deals, Xinhua news agency said, and 18 others punished.
The protests in Wukan in late 2011 attracted enormous public attention.
Villagers drove the leaders out because of land seizures for which they said they were not properly compensated.
The stand-off, reported around the world, only ended after the intervention of senior Guangdong provincial officials.
In what was seen as a concession from the authorities, a new vote was held for new village leaders. Protest leader Lin Zhulan won by a landslide.
In an article late on Monday, Xinhua news agency said that Wukan’s former party chief, Xue Chang, and the former head of the village committee, Chen Shunyi, had been expelled from the party for corruption.
The villagers’ central gripe was that local leaders had sold off land without properly sharing out the proceeds.
That complaint has now been vindicated by this investigation.
What is less clear is whether this case signals a new era in investigating corruption at local levels.