A Chinese woman who led one of the largest Ponzi schemes in her country will spend more than 11 years in a British prison for laundering billions in cryptocurrency, Reuters reported.
British police seized 61,000 bitcoin from Qian Zhimin, worth over $6 billion today. The haul set a record as the largest cryptocurrency seizure in history. Qian, 47, pleaded guilty in September to two counts of money laundering after a long global chase.
From massive fraud to global manhunt
Prosecutors said Qian ran a fraudulent investment scheme through her company, Lantian Gerui, between 2014 and 2017. Around 128,000 people invested nearly 40 billion yuan ($5.6 billion). Investigators believe Qian and her partners diverted about $6 billion and spent millions on luxury goods, including jewelry.
When Chinese police tried to arrest her in 2017, Qian escaped. She fled through Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, and Malaysia before arriving in London with a St. Kitts and Nevis passport.
Police discovered her in 2018 during a property investigation in north London. They found devices storing tens of thousands of bitcoin. Officers finally accessed the wallets in 2021, when the cryptocurrency was worth about £1.5 billion ($2 billion).
Prison sentence and legal fight over bitcoin
Judge Sally-Ann Hales called Qian “the architect of this operation from start to finish.” She sentenced her to 11 years and eight months in prison. Qian cried as she heard the verdict.
Her helper, Wen Jian, was sentenced last year for related offenses, and another accomplice, Ling Seng Hok, received nearly five years on Tuesday.
A new legal battle now focuses on what to do with the seized bitcoin. British prosecutors are considering a compensation scheme for victims. Qian’s lawyers claim the cryptocurrency’s rise in value far exceeds the losses and that it could cover all repayments.
A record case in global crypto crime
The Metropolitan Police said the case represents the biggest digital asset recovery ever made. Authorities are now deciding how to manage the billions linked to the fraud and how victims will be repaid.