11 years in prison for Bitcoin fraud. China's “Queen of Cryptocurrency” Convicted

A British court on Tuesday sentenced 47-year-old Chinese citizen Zhimin Qian to 11 years and 8 months in prison for stealing PLN 61,000. bitcoins with a current value of over £5 billion. During the four-year operation, the woman, called the “queen of cryptocurrency”, defrauded over 128,000. people.

The Chinese woman was responsible for a large-scale fraud that lasted from 2014 to 2017 in her country. She was supposed to convince hundreds of thousands of Chinese to invest money in her company, which allegedly developed technologically advanced health-related products and also mined cryptocurrencies. During the investigation, the police determined that the woman had misappropriated the funds.

Zhimin, using false documents, fled her homeland and got to Great Britain, where she tried to legalize the proceeds of crime by buying real estate.

The investigation into this case, conducted by the London Metropolitan Police, lasted seven years. Zhimin was arrested two years ago. According to investigators, it was the largest money laundering case in British history and one of the largest cryptocurrency cases in the world.

Zhimin admitted to the crimes she was accused of.

The woman was helped by Chinese bar employee Jian Wen, who in 2024 was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for her participation in the crime. Prosecutors said the 44-year-old “laundered” the fraud money by moving from a flat above a restaurant to a multi-million-pound rented house in north London. She also bought two properties in Dubai, worth over PLN 500,000. pounds. British police said they also confiscated bitcoins worth over £300 million.

British media reported in September that the government in London would want to keep the seized funds. This is possible under a law that allows UK authorities to seize, freeze and recover cryptocurrency assets. The BBC reported that investors defrauded by the woman are hoping to recover at least part of their money from the British authorities.

From London Marta Zabłocka (PAP)

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