Chinese woman convicted in UK over record £5.5 billion cryptocurrency seizure PHOTO

A Chinese woman has been convicted in Britain after what police described as the "world’s biggest" single cryptocurrency seizure, valued at more than £5.5 billion.

Zhimin Qian, 47, also known as Yadi Zhang, pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown Court on September 29 to charges of illegally acquiring and possessing vast amounts of bitcoin, Caliber.Az reports per The Independent. 

According to the Metropolitan Police, Qian led a massive scam in China between 2014 and 2017, defrauding more than 128,000 victims.

“Between 2014–2017, Zhang orchestrated a large-scale fraud in China through defrauding over 128,000 victims and went on to store the illegally obtained funds in bitcoin assets,” the police said.

Authorities confirmed that at least 61,000 bitcoins were seized from Qian.

Qian fled China on false documents and entered the UK in September 2018. Police said she “attempted to launder the proceeds via purchasing property, with the assistance of an assailant, Jian Wen.” Her arrest concluded a seven-year investigation into her global money laundering operation.

“Today marks the result of years of painstaking work,” said Detective Sergeant Isabella Grotto, who led the investigation. “When our team located Zhimin Qian, she had been evading justice for five years, and her arrest triggered a complex investigation requiring evidence from multiple jurisdictions and the careful review of thousands of documents.”

Investigators said the probe secured “compelling evidence of the criminal origins of the cryptoassets Qian attempted to launder in the UK.”

Wen, a 44-year-old takeaway worker, had earlier been jailed for six years and eight months for helping Qian launder the proceeds. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said she moved from living above a restaurant to a “multi-million pound rented house” in north London.

Wen made suspiciously large purchases, including two Dubai properties worth more than £500,000 and more than £300 million in bitcoin. The CPS said the scale of assets, with no legitimate source, indicated criminal origins.

Qian remains in custody ahead of sentencing, with a date yet to be confirmed.

By Sabina Mammadli