Chinese Cryptoqueen caught in London, in what was considered largest Bitcoin seizure

A woman who bought cryptocurrency with funds embezzled from thousands of Chinese pensioners has been sentenced in the UK to 11 years and eight months for money laundering. London police described the seizure as one of the world's single largest crypto hauls.

Qian Zhimin, 47, fled China after police began an investigation and arrived in the UK in September 2017 using a fake passport. She moved into a rented mansion in Hampstead, north London, where the Metropolitan Police raided the property a year later. Over 100,000 Chinese individuals invested money in her company, which claimed to be developing health products and mining cryptocurrency. Police claimed that Zhimin embezzled these investment funds. According to a BBC report, she posed as an antiques and diamond heiress in the UK. She hired a personal assistant to help convert her Bitcoin into spendable assets, including cash and property, to cover expenses such as her monthly rent of over £17,000 ($22,700). Investors told the BBC World Service that they hope to recover some of their money from the UK authorities. However, any unclaimed funds would typically default to the UK government.

Zhimin’s company, Lantian Gerui (or Bluesky Greet), claimed to use investor funds for Bitcoin mining and technology ventures. However, UK authorities believe it was a scam that drew thousands of investors in China with promises of high returns.As per court documents and witness accounts, Zhimin’s company functioned like a pyramid scheme, using funds from new investors to pay existing ones. One investor, Mr Yu, said he received daily payouts of about 100 yuan ($14), which made participants believe the system was working. “That made everyone feel really good… until we lost all self-control, all critical judgment,” he said. He and his wife borrowed money to invest further, only to lose everything when the payments stopped.Police later raided Zhimin’s Hampstead property in London, discovering hard drives and laptops containing tens of thousands of Bitcoin. Her assistant, Wen Jian, testified that Zhimin spent much of her time gaming and shopping while planning ambitious ventures, such as buying a Swedish castle and founding an international bank.Documents from trials in China show that Lantian Gerui attracted around 120,000 investors across all Chinese provinces, with total deposits exceeding 40 billion yuan ($5.6 billion), according to the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service. The company’s marketing targeted middle-aged and elderly investors, appealing to national pride and social isolation. “Our patriotism was our Achilles’ heel,” said Mr Yu, who is in his 60s.Zhimin fled to the UK after Chinese authorities began investigating the company in 2017. When she was arrested in York in April, she denied the allegations, claiming she was escaping a government crackdown on cryptocurrency entrepreneurs. However, during her trial in September, she pleaded guilty to illegally acquiring and possessing cryptocurrency.The seized Bitcoin has since multiplied more than twentyfold in value. Thousands of Chinese investors are now seeking compensation through a UK civil case, though proving their losses remains difficult.