Chinese Bitcoin Scammer Sentenced to Over 11 Years as UK Confiscates Record £4,800,000,000 Billion in BTC

A Chinese national has been sent to jail for eleven years and eight months in the UK for money laundering tied to a massive investment scam.

Zhimin Qian masterminded a scheme in China from 2014 to 2017 that defrauded over 128,000 victims of about £600 million.

The 47-year-old, who is also known as Yadi Zhang, converted around £20.2 million of the proceeds into Bitcoin and fled to the UK.

UK police seized over 60,000 Bitcoin from her in the largest cryptocurrency haul in British history, which is now worth £4.8 billion.

Qian has pleaded guilty to money laundering charges.

Her accomplice, Senghok Ling, 47, a Malaysian national, was sentenced to four years and 11 months for possessing criminal property in cryptocurrency and transferring about £2.5 million on Qian’s behalf.

Both Qian and Ling were arrested in April 2024 after police surveillance and multiple attempts to buy luxury property.

The Crown Prosecution Service is looking to confiscate the seized assets through criminal and civil proceedings.