Chinese woman jailed after $10 billion crypto seizure
“Organized crime groups use cryptocurrency to move, store and invest profits from serious crime, but every crypto transaction leaves a trail,” said Will Lyne, The Met’s head of economics and cybercrime.
Prosecutors said before being sentenced in a London court that Qian was behind an unlicensed Chinese investment company that raised 40 billion renminbi ($5.6 billion) from about 128,000 investors across China between 2014 and 2017.
The seizure of 61,000 Bitcoins during a money laundering investigation in 2018 was the largest ever haul of cryptocurrency by British police.Credit: Bloomberg
After the sentencing, his lawyer, Roger Sahota, said he “accepts his conviction and the mistakes that led to it.” “He never attempted to commit fraud but is aware that his investment schemes were fraudulent and misled those who trusted him.”
When Chinese authorities raided an event held by the firm in 2017, Qian fled and returned to St. Louis, according to prosecutors. He traveled to London via southeast Asian countries using a fake passport from St. Kitts and Nevis.
He hired fast food worker Jian Wen in the United Kingdom, and Wen was sentenced to more than six years in prison last year for helping launder money. Prosecutors said Qian used Wen and Ling to rent expensive homes, buy jewelery and property in Dubai and spend tens of thousands of pounds on luxury purchases.
“He lied and planned”
“You lied and schemed while trying to achieve your own benefit,” the judge said, referring to Qian. “You managed to evade justice for more than seven years with the help of those you recruited and whose loyalty you bought.”
The judge said Qian “spent lavishly and traveled extensively”, avoiding countries that have extradition treaties with China.
A city law firm first reported concerns to police about a suspicious attempt to buy property in London using Bitcoin. Police later seized 61,000 Bitcoins and Wen was later arrested. Prosecutors said Qian continued to live in luxury mansions in Scotland and York.
Wen was still on trial when a transfer of 8.2 Bitcoins to a cryptocurrency wallet monitored by police in February 2024 led to his arrest from Qian’s mansion in York.
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There, police found a number of digital devices scattered throughout the house, including wallets carrying jewelery as well as £60 million ($121 million) worth of crypto assets and around £48,000 in cash.
Prosecutors claimed he wanted to buy a large house to become “ruler of Liberland” and sell £200,000 a month in Bitcoin to cover his expenses. Liberland is a strip of derelict land on the west bank of the Danube River, wedged between Croatia and Serbia.
After the arrest, Qian refused to comment to most police questions, but prosecutors said he “felt like he was going to die soon and this was the last chance he could waste.”
