A British court has sentenced Chinese national Zhimin Qian to 11 years and eight months in prison for her role in a massive investment fraud, a case that also resulted in the largest cryptocurrency seizure in UK history. The sentencing marks a significant milestone in a complex, seven-year international investigation.
The Architect of a Billion-Dollar Ponzi Scheme
Zhimin Qian, who also used the alias Yadi Zhang, was the mastermind behind the fraudulent company Lantian Gerui (translated as “Bluesky Greet”) in China. Between 2014 and 2017, she orchestrated a Ponzi scheme that defrauded over 128,000 investors, many of them elderly pensioners, out of an estimated 40 billion yuan (approximately $5.6 billion). Posing as a tech and health products entrepreneur, Qian promised victims high returns from cryptocurrency mining and other ventures. She used sophisticated tactics to win their trust, including exploiting their patriotism, publishing poetry about social responsibility, and holding lavish investor events at prestigious venues like the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
When Chinese authorities began investigating her in 2017, Qian fled the country. Using a fake passport from St. Kitts and Nevis, she traveled through Southeast Asia and Europe before settling in the UK. In London, she rented a six-bedroom mansion in the upscale Hampstead area for £17,333 (about $22,000) per month and began living a life of luxury, funding it by converting her fraudulently obtained Bitcoin into cash, fine jewelry, and other assets.
The Investigation and Record-Breaking Seizure
Qian’s downfall began when she attempted to purchase a £12.5 million property in London. The large transaction raised suspicions about the source of her funds, triggering an investigation by the Metropolitan Police. In October 2018, police raided her Hampstead home. During the search, they discovered digital wallets stored on hardware devices containing a massive amount of Bitcoin. This initial seizure, along with subsequent recoveries, totaled 61,000 Bitcoin. At the time of the sentencing, the seized cryptocurrency was worth over £5 billion (approximately $6.4 billion), making it the largest cryptocurrency seizure ever confirmed by UK authorities and one of the largest in the world.
After the police raid, Qian fled the UK and spent nearly six years as a fugitive, sightseeing across Europe and staying in luxury hotels before being tracked down and arrested in York in April 2024. Her accomplice, Seng Hok Ling, who helped her transfer criminal property, was sentenced to four years and eleven months. Another accomplice, Jian Wen, a former takeaway worker who acted as Qian’s personal assistant, was previously sentenced to six years and eight months for money laundering.
A Long Road to Justice and Restitution
At her sentencing at Southwark Crown Court, Judge Sally-Ann Hales told Qian she was “the architect of this offending from its inception to its conclusion… your motive was one of pure greed”. The court heard that Qian had grand ambitions beyond her fraud, documenting plans in her diary to found an international bank, buy a Swedish castle, and even become the “queen” of Liberland, a self-proclaimed microstate in Europe.
While the prison sentence brings a measure of justice, the fate of the seized Bitcoin worth billions remains unresolved. A civil recovery proceeding is underway to determine how the assets will be distributed. Thousands of the defrauded Chinese investors are hoping to recover their losses, but the process is complex. Lawyers note that many victims did not transfer money directly to Qian’s company but through regional promoters, complicating their claims . There is also a looming question of whether victims will receive only their original investment or a share of the appreciated value of the Bitcoin. The UK Treasury could potentially claim any unallocated funds, setting the stage for a complex international restitution process.
