A Chinese national has been convicted for involvement in a fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme following the largest cryptocurrency seizure in global history, valued at more than £5.5 billion ($7.3 billion).
Zhimin Qian, 47, also known as Yadi Zhang, pleaded guilty to acquiring and possessing criminal property under the Proceeds of Crime Act. Qian was behind a vast fraudulent Bitcoin investment scheme that defrauded over 128,000 victims in China between 2014 and 2017.
Operating under the guise of a high-yield investment firm, Qian lured approximately 130,000 investors with promises of returns between 100% and 300%. The scam raised an estimated 40 billion yuan before collapsing in 2017. Qian then converted the proceeds into Bitcoin and fled to the UK.
Once dubbed China’s “Bitcoin Queen” for her early cryptocurrency evangelism, Qian used her new base in Britain to attempt laundering the illicit funds through real estate investments, aided by associate Jian Wen.
The Metropolitan Police launched their investigation in 2018 after receiving intelligence on the movement of the stolen cryptocurrency. A total of 61,000 Bitcoin were seized worth hundreds of millions at the time, and now valued at approximately £5.5 billion.
Wen was previously sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for her role in the laundering operation. Qian is set to be sentenced later this year.
This case surpasses a previous “record” in 2022 when the US Justice Department's 2022 confiscated of over 94,000 Bitcoin linked to the Bitfinex hack.