A Chinese woman who defrauded thousands of investors in China to amass a huge fortune and later fled to London has been sentenced to 11 years and 8 months in prison for money laundering. This case represents one of the largest cryptocurrency confiscations in British history and is part of a series of international financial crimes under scrutiny by law enforcement.
According to investigation materials, 47-year-old Qian Zhimin left China in 2017 with a fake passport and settled in a luxury mansion in the prestigious Hampstead area of London, paying £17,000 per month in rent. During a police raid, laptops and memory cards containing tens of thousands of bitcoins were seized. The confiscated digital assets are valued at billions of pounds.
Court proceedings revealed that the funds were collected through a fake investment company, “Lantian Gerui,” which targeted over 120,000 investors in China. The company promised high returns in cryptocurrency mining and medical technology but operated as a pyramid scheme. The judge described Qian as the “architect” of this criminal network, acting out of greed.
The fate of the confiscated bitcoins is currently under discussion. In a civil court next year, decisions will be made regarding returning the assets to the defrauded Chinese investors or transferring them to the state treasury. Qian’s assistant has also been sentenced separately for involvement in money laundering.
