A woman, said by police to have bought cryptocurrency now worth billions of pounds using funds stolen from thousands of Chinese pensioners, has been sentenced to 11 years and eight months for money laundering.
Passing sentence at Southwark Crown Court on Tuesday, Judge Sally-Ann Hales told Qian Zhimin she was the architect of this offending from its inception to its conclusion... your motive was one of pure greed.
After fleeing China, Qian moved to a mansion in Hampstead, north London. The Metropolitan Police raided it a year later and made one of the world's single largest crypto seizures.
More than 100,000 Chinese people invested their money in her company - which claimed to be developing high-tech health products and mining cryptocurrency. In reality, she embezzled the funds, police say.
Investors have told the BBC World Service they hope to get at least some of their cash back from the UK authorities. Anything left unclaimed would normally default to the UK government - leading some to speculate that the Treasury could stand to gain from the haul.
If we can gather all the evidence together, we hope the UK government, the Crown Prosecution Service and the High Court can show compassion, said one victim we are calling Mr Yu, who says his marriage failed as a result of the fraud. Because now, it's only that haul of Bitcoin that can return us a little bit of what we lost.
Qian Zhimin, 47, arrived in the UK under a fake passport in September 2017, after Chinese police started investigating her.
She rented a mansion at more than £17,000 ($22,700) a month and employed a personal assistant to convert her bitcoin stash back into money she could spend.
As bitcoin rose in value, Qian achieved the promises made to investors and spent her days indulging in luxury. However, her extravagant lifestyle drew attention, leading to a police investigation.
Authorities discovered hard drives loaded with tens of thousands of Bitcoin, marking it as one of the largest cryptocurrency seizures in UK history. She was known for hosting lavish events to draw in investors, ultimately bilking them out of £5.6 billion.
The trial unveiled the manipulative nature of Qian’s operation, with many victims recounting how they had been misled and drained of their life savings, some leading to severe personal consequences.
Despite her lavish lifestyle and the explosive growth of the cryptocurrency market, Qian's fraudulent activities caught up with her, culminating in her arrest in 2024. Now, as her victims seek restitution, the fate of her seized cryptocurrency remains uncertain.
