{"id":48820,"date":"2025-11-11T12:57:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T17:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/?p=48820"},"modified":"2025-11-11T12:57:18","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T17:57:18","slug":"chinese-bitcoin-queen-jailed-in-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/news\/chinese-bitcoin-queen-jailed-in-uk","title":{"rendered":"Chinese \u2018Bitcoin Queen\u2019 Ponzi Mastermind Jailed in UK for Over 11 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A Chinese woman who orchestrated a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme and laundered much of the proceeds into cryptocurrency was jailed in the United Kingdom on Tuesday for 11 years and eight months, according to Reuters <\/em>reporting<\/a>.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zhimin Qian, 47, nicknamed the \u201cgoddess of wealth,\u201d admitted to two charges of acquiring and possessing criminal property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Qian ran the Lantian Gerui investment company between 2014 and 2017, defrauding<\/a> around 128,000 investors in China of roughly 40 billion renminbi ($5.62 billion). Prosecutors said about 6 billion renminbi ($845 million) was siphoned off and converted into bitcoin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the course of a multiyear investigation, British authorities seized over 61,000 bitcoin\u2014worth more than $6 billion today\u2014marking one of the largest cryptocurrency seizures ever recorded in Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bitcoin fraud details<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The court heard that Qian fled China in 2017, traveling through Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, and Malaysia, before arriving in the UK on a St Kitts and Nevis passport. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She attempted to convert the bitcoin into cash, often using accomplices to purchase luxury goods, including jewelry and watches, while staying in high-end hotels across Europe. British authorities first encountered Qian in 2018 during a property purchase in London, but she evaded capture for six years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She was eventually arrested<\/a> in York, northern England, in April 2024 following a police investigation into her accomplice Ling Seng Hok, who had been transferring bitcoin linked to the scheme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Qian\u2019s accomplices were also sentenced. Wen Jian, who helped<\/a> convert the bitcoin into cash and luxury goods, was jailed last year, while Ling received nearly five years in prison after pleading guilty to money laundering. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prosecutors said the case ranks as one of the largest money-laundering cases in UK history by value and involves the largest confirmed seizure of criminal assets in Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At sentencing, Judge Sally-Ann Hales described Qian as the \u201carchitect\u201d of the scheme, driven by \u201cpure greed.\u201d Prosecutors highlighted<\/a> that some victims lost their life savings, homes, and even marriages. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While criminal proceedings are complete, a civil recovery process in London\u2019s High Court is ongoing, exploring compensation for more than 1,300 victims who have come forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Qian\u2019s lawyers argued that she never intended to defraud anyone and that bitcoin\u2019s massive appreciation\u2014rising from around $3,600 in 2018 to roughly $100,000 today\u2014could allow restitution to exceed the original losses. A spokesperson for London police confirmed that British and Chinese authorities are cooperating on cross-border fugitive and asset recovery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Chinese woman who ran a $5.6 billion Ponzi scheme and laundered billions in bitcoin was jailed in the UK for nearly 12 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3817,"featured_media":48822,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4378],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-48820","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news"},"author_data":{"id":3817,"name":"Micah Zimmerman","nicename":"micahzimmerman","avatar_url":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Micah_Zimmerman_Author_Image.jpg"},"featured_image_url":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Chinese-\u2018Bitcoin-Queen-Ponzi-Mastermind-Jailed-in-UK-for-Over-11-Years.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3817"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48820\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}