london
AP
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A Chinese woman who defrauded more than 128,000 people in China in a Ponzi scheme and was found with £5 billion ($6.6 billion) in Bitcoin was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison in a British court on Tuesday.
Police have announced that officers have recovered a device containing 61,000 Bitcoins after investigating 47-year-old Jimin Qiang in the UK’s largest cryptocurrency seizure.
Qian, dubbed the “Crypto Queen” by British media, was arrested in April 2024 after living a “lavish” lifestyle in Europe for years evading authorities, staying in luxury hotels across the continent and purchasing high-end jewelry and watches, prosecutors said.
Police say she ran a pyramid scheme from 2014 to 2017 that forced more than 128,000 people to invest in her business, including some who invested their own savings and pensions. Authorities said she kept the illegally obtained funds in Bitcoin assets.
After drawing the attention of Chinese authorities, Qian fled to the UK using a false identity. Police said that after arriving in London, she rented a “luxurious” house for more than 17,000 pounds ($23,000) a month and unsuccessfully tried to buy a multimillion-pound property in order to exchange Bitcoin.
Investigators found a note in which Chen recorded her aspirations, including her “intention to become monarch of Liberland, a self-proclaimed country consisting of a strip of land between Croatia and Serbia.”
They said other notes detailed Chen’s desire to “meet dukes and royalty.”
Judge Sally Ann Hales said Qian planned the crime from start to finish.
“Your motive was pure greed. You left China and for a time enjoyed a life of luxury without a thought for the people whose investments you stole. You lied and conspired while pursuing your own interests,” Hales said.
A businessman who admitted money laundering offenses and charges of transferring and possessing criminal property was sentenced to 11 years and eight months in prison at Southwark Crown Court on Tuesday.
She was sentenced along with her accomplice, Malaysian national Seng Hok Lin, 47, who was charged with aiding Qian in transferring and laundering cryptocurrencies. Lin was sentenced to four years and 11 months in prison at the same court after pleading guilty to a charge of transferring criminal property.
