The £5.5 Billion Bitcoin Ponzi Scheme
A Chinese businesswoman, Zhimin Qian, orchestrated one of the most significant cryptocurrency frauds in UK history, a Ponzi scheme that defrauded more than 128,000 investors in China out of funds totalling over £5.5 billion. The illicit profits were stored in Bitcoin, setting the stage for an international manhunt.
A Fugitive's Life of Luxury in Europe
After Chinese authorities began investigating her company, Lantian Gerui (Blue Sky), in 2017, Qian fled to the UK. She immediately began constructing a new identity and lifestyle, recruiting accomplices like Jian Wen to assist her. The court heard how Qian rented a lavish property in Hampstead, London, for £17,333 per month, falsely claiming to be a successful jewellery trader.
For years, Qian travelled extensively across Europe, deliberately avoiding countries with extradition treaties to China. She and her accomplices stayed in upmarket hotels, went sightseeing, and purchased extravagant jewellery. In one particularly audacious transaction in Zurich, she bought two watches for nearly £120,000.
Her attempts to acquire a £12.5 million London property in 2018 ultimately raised suspicions with UK authorities, acting as a catalyst for the investigation. When Metropolitan Police officers executed a search warrant at her Hampstead home in October 2018, they found laptops containing millions in Bitcoin, but Qian provided a fake name and was not initially arrested.
The Final Arrest and Ongoing Sentencing
Following the police raid, Qian fled and managed to remain at large for nearly six years. She was finally tracked down in April 2024 to an address in York, where she was living with several individuals who performed domestic duties for her while she remained hidden.
Authorities discovered a cryptocurrency wallet on a laptop at the property containing £27.3 million worth of Bitcoin. Qian was arrested alongside her accomplice, Seng Hok Ling, a Malaysian national who had helped arrange properties for her, including an Airbnb in Scotland.
Qian, who has no fixed abode, has pleaded guilty to acquiring and possessing criminal property. Ling, from Derbyshire, pleaded guilty to transferring criminal property. Their sentencing hearing at Southwark Crown Court continues, concluding a major case for the UK's fight against complex financial crime.
