Britain and China are set to battle for a ‘Bitcoin queen’s’ fortune after she admitted to laundering more than £5billion worth of cryptocurrency.
Zhimin Qian, also known as Yadi Zhang, yesterday admitted charges of possessing and transferring criminal property on the first day of her trial at Southwark Crown Court.
The 47-year-old, wearing glasses, a brown cardigan and an animal print top, was remanded in custody ahead of sentencing, which will take place at a later date.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has apparently earmarked the money to help fill a blackhole in her Budget.
But the Chinese Communist Party is also laying claim to the money, reported The Times.
China argues the bitcoin fortune, which is thought to be in UK government accounts, had originated from a Ponzi scheme that had targeted 128,000 people in the country.
The Chinese government has hired lawyers to represent the victims of the fraud.
The CPS last year published a ‘notice to the victims of the Lantian Gerui fraud’.
The notice said it had made a property freezing order on 18 December 2023 under the proceeds of crime act ‘and will remain in force, prohibiting the dissipation of the property, until the conclusion of the civil recovery proceedings or until further order of the High Court’.
Zhimin Qian, also known as Yadi Zhang, appeared at Southwark Crown Court to admit charges of possessing and transferring criminal property on the first day of her trial
Between 2014 and 2017, Qian orchestrated a large-scale fraud in China that stole from 128,000 victims before moving their funds into Bitcoin.
She then fled China using false documents and entered the UK, where in September 2018 she attempted to launder the proceeds via purchasing property, with the assistance of an assailant, Jian Wen.
She first came to police attention in 2018, when police seized 61,000 Bitcoin worth £5.1billion from Wen’s £5million mansion in Hampstead, which she moved into within weeks of arriving in the UK as a takeaway worker with just £5,000 to her name.
The Met did not realise the devices they had seized contained Bitcoin until 2021, by which point Qian at vanished. It is thought to be the largest law enforcement Bitcoin seizure ever.
She was not charged until April 2024 after she was arrested in York.
Qian emerged for relative obscurity to run a Chinese company called Tianjin Lantian Gerui Electronic Technology, launched in March 2014.
The firm sold investment products with promised returns of up to 300 per cent. In reality, she was simply funnelling her investors’ money into Bitcoin for her own enrichment.
Will Lyne, The Met’s Head of Economic and Cybercrime Command, said officers were able to gather evidence with the assistance of police in China.
‘We were able to obtain compelling evidence of the criminal origins of the cryptoassets Qian attempted to launder in the UK,’ he said.
‘My thoughts are with the thousands of victims defrauded in this scheme, and I hope today’s outcome acknowledges the harm Qian inflicted and reinforces the Met’s unwavering commitment to justice.’
Qian’s assistant Jian Wen (pictured) was convicted of money laundering
Wen was living in a basement room under a Chinese takeaway in Abbey Wood, south-east London. But within weeks, she moved into this fabulous six-bedroom house in Hampstead Heath, paying £17,000 a month in rent in September 2017
Wen was convicted of money laundering and jailed for six years in 2014.
Commenting today, Detective Sargent Isabella Grotto, who led the Met’s investigation, said: ‘Today marks the result of years of painstaking work.
‘When our team located Zhimin Qian, she had been evading justice for five years, and her arrest triggered a complex investigation requiring evidence from multiple jurisdictions and the careful review of thousands of documents.
‘I am immensely proud of the investigation team and our partners who have worked tirelessly on this case.
‘Today’s plea reflects years of hard work across both the UK and China.
‘We are grateful for the support of the National Crime Agency and the Crown Prosecution Service, and to Chinese law enforcement teams in Tianjin and Beijing with whom we have collaborated throughout.’