World’s Largest Crypto Bust: Mastermind Pleads Guilty After Police Seize $7 Billion in Bitcoin
One of the most sensational cryptocurrency fraud trials has concluded in London. Forty-seven-year-old Chinese national Zhimin Qian pleaded guilty after British police seized from her a record-breaking cache of Bitcoin valued at nearly 7 billion dollars — the largest cryptocurrency confiscation in history, according to Scotland Yard.
Investigators established that between 2014 and 2017, Qian, through her company Tianjin Lantian Gerui Electronic Technology, lured tens of thousands of investors in China with promises of implausible returns of up to 300%. The scheme defrauded more than 128,000 people, costing them billions of dollars. Qian converted the illicit proceeds into Bitcoin and, following the collapse of the operation, fled abroad using a forged passport from St. Kitts and Nevis.
She arrived in the United Kingdom in the autumn of 2018 and, together with her associate Jiang Wen, attempted to launder the cryptocurrency through the purchase of luxury real estate and other ventures. However, within a month — in October 2018 — police raided her home in North London. There they discovered laptops granting access to 61,000 BTC, now worth approximately 6.9 billion dollars.
According to London’s Metropolitan Police, the case became one of the largest investigations in the unit’s history, carried out in collaboration with Chinese law enforcement. Authorities noted that investigators spent over seven years gathering evidence, ultimately securing Qian’s admission of guilt. It is also known that she evaded justice for five years before being captured through close coordination between London, Tianjin, and Beijing.
The case has drawn further attention due to disputes over the future of the seized assets. The UK intends to retain the funds to offset budget deficits, while countless Chinese victims are demanding the return of their investments. Qian has admitted guilt in acquiring and possessing criminally obtained property and is now awaiting sentencing. Her accomplice, Jiang Wen, was sentenced last year to more than six years in prison for laundering the stolen assets.
Despite Qian’s attempts to portray the proceedings as politically motivated persecution linked to her involvement in cryptocurrency following China’s 2017 ban, the court dismissed such arguments. The prosecution proved beyond doubt that the affair was in fact one of the largest fraud schemes ever seen, ensnaring tens of thousands of investors.
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