A Chinese language girl who orchestrated a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme and laundered a lot of the proceeds into cryptocurrency was jailed in the UK on Tuesday for 11 years and eight months, in accordance with Reuters reporting.
Zhimin Qian, 47, nicknamed the “goddess of wealth,” admitted to 2 fees of buying and possessing prison property.
Qian ran the Lantian Gerui funding firm between 2014 and 2017, defrauding round 128,000 buyers in China of roughly 40 billion renminbi ($5.62 billion). Prosecutors mentioned about 6 billion renminbi ($845 million) was siphoned off and transformed into bitcoin.
Through the course of a multiyear investigation, British authorities seized over 61,000 bitcoin—value greater than $6 billion in the present day—marking one of many largest cryptocurrency seizures ever recorded in Europe.
Bitcoin fraud particulars
The courtroom heard that Qian fled China in 2017, touring by means of Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, and Malaysia, earlier than arriving within the UK on a St Kitts and Nevis passport.
She tried to transform the bitcoin into money, typically utilizing accomplices to buy luxurious items, together with jewellery and watches, whereas staying in high-end inns throughout Europe. British authorities first encountered Qian in 2018 throughout a property buy in London, however she evaded seize for six years.
She was finally arrested in York, northern England, in April 2024 following a police investigation into her confederate Ling Seng Hok, who had been transferring bitcoin linked to the scheme.
Qian’s accomplices have been additionally sentenced. Wen Jian, who helped convert the bitcoin into money and luxurious items, was jailed final 12 months, whereas Ling obtained almost 5 years in jail after pleading responsible to cash laundering.
Prosecutors mentioned the case ranks as one of many largest money-laundering instances in UK historical past by worth and includes the most important confirmed seizure of prison property in Europe.
At sentencing, Decide Sally-Ann Hales described Qian because the “architect” of the scheme, pushed by “pure greed.” Prosecutors highlighted that some victims misplaced their life financial savings, houses, and even marriages.
Whereas prison proceedings are full, a civil restoration course of in London’s Excessive Courtroom is ongoing, exploring compensation for greater than 1,300 victims who’ve come ahead.
Qian’s attorneys argued that she by no means meant to defraud anybody and that bitcoin’s huge appreciation—rising from round $3,600 in 2018 to roughly $100,000 in the present day—may enable restitution to exceed the unique losses. A spokesperson for London police confirmed that British and Chinese language authorities are cooperating on cross-border fugitive and asset restoration.
