Chinese National Pleads Guilty in World’s Largest $6.7B Crypto Seizure Case
A Chinese nationwide has pleaded responsible to her function in the world’s largest cryptocurrency seizure, totaling greater than £5 billion ($6.7 billion).
Key Takeaways:
- Zhimin Qian pleaded responsible in London to orchestrating a multi-billion-dollar crypto fraud that led to the seizure of 61,000 BTC.
- The rip-off focused over 128,000 victims in China, with funds laundered via property purchases and aided by confederate Jian Wen.
- UK authorities known as the seven-year investigation a significant milestone in cracking down on crypto-based monetary crime.
Zhimin Qian, also called Yadi Zhang, appeared at London’s Southwark Crown Court on Monday, the place she admitted to illegally buying and possessing tens of hundreds of Bitcoins linked to an enormous fraud operation in China.
According to the Metropolitan Police, Qian masterminded a large-scale funding rip-off in China between 2014 and 2017, concentrating on over 128,000 victims.
The stolen funds had been funneled into Bitcoin, finally amounting to 61,000 BTC seized by UK authorities.
The Met launched an investigation in 2018 following a tip-off about suspicious transfers of digital belongings. After evading seize for years, Qian was finally apprehended in the UK, the place she had been dwelling beneath a false identification.
Police stated she had tried to launder the proceeds by buying high-value property.
“This was a painstaking, multi-jurisdictional investigation spanning seven years,” stated Detective Sergeant Isabella Grotto, who led the case.
“Qian’s arrest and conviction mark a significant breakthrough in concentrating on the illicit use of crypto belongings.”
Qian was not performing alone. She was aided by Jian Wen, a former Chinese takeaway employee who helped launder the stolen funds.
Wen, 44, was sentenced final yr to 6 years and eight months in jail after transferring from modest dwelling circumstances above a restaurant to a luxurious North London residence.
Authorities stated she additionally acquired two Dubai properties value over £500,000. The Met seized over £300 million in Bitcoin from Wen.
Court paperwork reveal that many victims of Qian’s rip-off had been lured by guarantees of every day dividends and high returns, a part of a fraudulent scheme that performed on China’s enthusiasm for crypto belongings on the time.
The victims reportedly included professionals and retirees, many persuaded to speculate by mates or household.
Qian’s firm projected itself as a tech-forward monetary agency and claimed to help China’s ambition to change into a worldwide fintech hub. In actuality, prosecutors say it was a entrance for an unlimited crypto fraud.
Qian is at the moment in custody pending sentencing.
As reported, bodily assaults concentrating on Bitcoin and crypto holders are rising at an alarming price, in line with new knowledge tracked by CASA co-founder Jameson Lopp.
Since late February, 35 new violent incidents have been reported globally, a 169% increase in just six and a half months.
The uptick provides to an already troubling pattern, as cryptocurrency markets proceed their bullish run.
In whole, 48 assaults have occurred to date in 2025, marking a 33% improve over all of 2024. France alone has accounted for 14 of this yr’s reported incidents.
One of essentially the most disturbing instances came about on September 6 in Cambridge, Canada, the place a younger man was kidnapped at gunpoint and compelled to switch funds right into a cryptocurrency pockets.
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