LONDON, Nov 12: A London court has sentenced a Chinese woman to more than 11 years in prison for orchestrating a massive cryptocurrency scam that defrauded over 128,000 investors in China, the Associated Press reported.
The court found that 47-year-old Zhimin Qian amassed around £5 billion ($6.6 billion) worth of Bitcoin through a Ponzi scheme that collapsed after drawing the attention of law enforcement. According to police, the investigation resulted in the recovery of digital devices containing 61,000 Bitcoin, marking the largest cryptocurrency seizure in the United Kingdom, the Associated Press (AP)said.
British prosecutors said Qian, described by the media as a “cryptoqueen,” was captured in April 2024 after years of evading authorities. During her time on the run, she lived in Europe, moving between luxury hotels, and spending lavishly on jewelry and designer watches.
Bitcoin's rise from $0.01 to $11,000
Investigators said she operated a pyramid-style investment scheme between 2014 and 2017, convincing thousands of people, including retirees, to put in their life savings. Much of the stolen money was later stored in Bitcoin wallets, according to the AP.
After Chinese officials began investigating her operations, Qian fled to the United Kingdom using a false identity. Once there, she rented a high-end London home for more than £17,000 ($23,000) a month and attempted unsuccessfully to buy multimillion-pound properties to convert her cryptocurrency into tangible assets.
Police said they also found notes written by Qian expressing unusual ambitions, including a desire to “become the monarch of Liberland,” an unrecognized micronation on the Croatia-Serbia border, as well as plans to “meet a duke and royalty,” according to the Associated Press.
At sentencing, Judge Sally-Ann Hales told Qian she was the mastermind behind the entire fraud operation. The judge said Qian’s actions were motivated by greed and showed no regard for her victims, who lost everything while she enjoyed “a lavish lifestyle” abroad. Qian pleaded guilty to charges of money laundering and possession of criminal property and received a prison term of 11 years and eight months from Southwark Crown Court, the Associated Press said.
Her associate, Malaysian national Seng Hok Ling, 47, was convicted of helping move and conceal the stolen cryptocurrency. He pleaded guilty to transferring criminal property and was sentenced to four years and 11 months in prison at the same court, according to the Associated Press.
