A Chinese fraudster involved in a Bitcoin scam worth more than £5.5bn spent years evading British authorities by sightseeing across Europe and staying in luxury hotels, a court heard.
Zhimin Qian, 47, masterminded a Ponzi scheme that defrauded more than 128,000 victims in China between 2014 and 2017 and stored the illegally obtained funds in Bitcoin assets.
Qian, also known as Yadi Zhang, fled to Britain in 2017 and upon arriving, recruited accomplices to help her “set up a new life”.
A sentencing hearing at Southwark Crown Court on Monday heard Qian travelled extensively in the months and years that followed, staying in upmarket hotels across the Continent and buying expensive jewellery. On one occasion, she purchased two watches for nearly £120,000.
The businesswoman attracted the attention of British authorities in 2018 and was arrested in April last year after spending nearly six years “at large” in what has been described as the largest seizure of cryptocurrency assets in the UK.
After pleading guilty to money laundering offences, Qian and her accomplice Seng Hok Ling, 47, are to be sentenced on Tuesday for the roles they played in the fraud.
Their Bitcoin was valued at more than £5.5 billion when Qian and Ling were convicted of money laundering offences in September. Bitcoin now is worth roughly 40 times its value when Qian left China for the UK.
Seng Hok Ling pleaded guilty to transferring criminal property whilst acting as Qian’s accomplice
Gillian Jones KC, prosecuting, told the hearing that Qian set up the fraudulent business, Lantian Gerui, which translates to Blue Sky in English, in March 2014.
More than 128,000 victims invested in the company, many of whom went on to lose “substantial sums of money”.
Qian’s activities eventually came to the attention of Chinese authorities, prompting her to flee the country before arriving in the UK in September 2017. She recruited an accomplice, Jian Wen, to help her “set up a new life”.
Two watches bought for £120k
Ms Jones KC said: “Over the months and years following her arrival in the UK, Ms Qian travelled extensively throughout Europe often accompanied by Ms Wen, staying in expensive hotels and sightseeing.
“During these trips Bitcoin was transferred and sold in exchange for cash, [with] fine jewellery bought and property in Europe considered for purchase.”
The court heard Qian was careful to avoid countries that had extradition treaties with China, and travelled mostly by car to avoid custom checks. It was heard that on one trip, the pair spent £119,200 purchasing two watches at a jewellery shop in Zurich.
Attempted to buy £12.5m property in London
In 2018, Qian raised suspicions when she attempted to purchase a £12.5 million property in London, and UK authorities were notified.
UK police emailed Wen, who was attempting to secure the property on Qian’s behalf, to tell her that they had concerns about the source of the money.
In October 2018, Metropolitan Police officers visited her Hampstead home to execute a search warrant. Qian was discovered in bed by officers and she told them she was ill with a sore leg and brain injury.
She provided a fake name, Yadi Zhang, and the court heard that at this stage, the police had no idea who Qian was. They discovered laptops in her property with millions of pounds’ worth of Bitcoin contained on them.
Neither Qian or Wen were arrested at this stage as the police were unaware of the extent of what they had uncovered. In a later discovery, officers found documents recording Qian’s “aspirations and intentions”.
Referring to one document, Ms Jones KC said: “[This] included her intention to become the monarch of Liberland, a self-proclaimed country consisting of a strip of land between Croatia and Serbia.”
Criminal found in York
Qian fled the country after the raid. For nearly six years, she managed to “evade arrest” and was “at large”. However, Wen was arrested in May 2021 at the Hampstead address and charged with money laundering.
While her trial was ongoing, a transfer of Bitcoin was made that led the police to identify Seng Hok Ling at an address in York. Police visited the address in April 2024 and discovered Qian and four other individuals.
It was heard they were all living at the address and were working for Qian, carrying out roles such as cooking, shopping and cleaning, while she remained “hidden” from the authorities.
Authorities discovered several devices at Qian’s address, including a laptop containing a cryptocurrency wallet with £27.3 million worth of Bitcoin. It was one of several such seizures by the police, in which they found assets including encrypted devices.
Fraudster has had ‘poetry published’
The court heard Ling, a Malaysian national, had arranged the rental of properties for Qian to live in, including an Airbnb in Scotland. Richard Thomas KC, mitigating on behalf of Qian, said his client has “no previous convictions” and has maintained an “exemplary record” while in custody.
He said that Qian has “worked hard” to learn English in custody and has even had her poetry published.
Narita Bahra KC, representing Ling, said her client did not know the “full extent” of Qian’s criminality.
Qian, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to acquiring criminal property and possessing criminal property. Ling, from Derbyshire, pleaded guilty to transferring criminal property.
Wen was convicted of one charge of money laundering. She was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison. The sentencing hearing for Qian and Ling is due to conclude on Tuesday.
