$6.4 Billion Bitcoin Seizure: Chinese ‘Super Villain’ Jailed
- Chinese national Zhimin Qian has been imprisoned after the UK seized a record $6.4 billion in Bitcoin from her.
- Qian transferred billions of dollars after launching counterfeit investments and lived a very glamorous life before his arrest last year.
- The UK is now making efforts to transfer the stolen Bitcoin to the victims of the fraud.
A London court has convicted Chinese fugitive Zhimin Qian (also called Yadi Zhang) to over 11 years in jail on money laundering. According to investigations, she has laundered billions of dollars in Bitcoin. The sentence comes at the end of the largest stash of seized cryptocurrency in the United Kingdom, valued at $6.4 billion.
UK Court Jails Chinese Bitcoin Fugitive
Qian, 47, was found guilty of possessing and transferring criminal property linked to one of China’s biggest investment frauds. She collected over 40 billion yuan, about $5.6 billion, from more than 128,000 investors between 2014 and 2017.
A Bloomberg report revealed that prosecutors said she used fake passports to flee China. Then, Qian traveled across Southeast Asia and Europe before settling in Britain under a false identity.
British law enforcement authorities arrested Qian last year after they tracked 61,000 Bitcoin to a money laundering investigation that started in 2018. The crypto was located in numerous digital wallets in her high-end residence in New York by the police.
Officers also found £48,000 in cash, jewelry, and expensive items. Judge Sally-Ann Hales, who sentenced Qian at the Southwark Crown Court, described the crime as unprecedented.
“Yeah, you even lied and plotted all along towards your own gain,” the judge said. Seng Hok Ling, who was an assistant to Qian, was also given a jail term of nearly five years for assisting to handle illegal funds.
Also Read | China Accuses U.S. of Seizing $13 Billion in Stolen Bitcoin
Lavish Lifestyle Ends in Arrest
The investigators disclosed that Qian lived lavishly as she rented mansions in different locations. She even set out to be the ruler of a new microstate of Liberland, which is located between Croatia and Serbia. This was shortened in 2024 when she transferred 8.2 Bitcoin to a wallet monitored by British police and was arrested.
Authorities said Qian used employees, including a former fast-food worker named Jian Wen, to launder crypto. They also used the same method to attempt property purchases in London. Wen was convicted earlier and sentenced to more than six years in prison.
Qian’s lawyer, Roger Sahota, said his client “accepts her conviction and the mistakes that led to it.” He told the court that she never intended to commit fraud. But she admitted that her investment schemes misled those who trusted her.
The National Crime Agency disclosed that it is working to compensate the victims whose Bitcoins were stolen through this scam. The case has been marked by officials as an illustration of international cooperation to resolve crimes related to cryptocurrency.
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