A Chinese national, Zhimin Qian, 47, has been sentenced to 11 years and eight months in the U.K. for orchestrating a massive Bitcoin scam that defrauded more than 128,000 investors in China. Authorities said she accumulated 5 billion pounds ($6.6 billion) in cryptocurrency through the scheme.
Qian, nicknamed the “cryptoqueen” by British media, was arrested in London in April 2024 after years of evading law enforcement. Police recovered 61,000 Bitcoin in what has been described as the largest cryptocurrency seizure in U.K. history.
Prosecutors said Qian ran the pyramid scheme between 2014 and 2017, convincing victims to invest life savings and pensions. When the Chinese authorities began investigating, she fled to the U.K., assumed a false identity, and lived extravagantly, renting a luxury home for over £17,000 per month and attempting to buy high-value properties to convert her cryptocurrency.
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Judge Sally-Ann Hales, addressing Qian in court, called her actions “driven by pure greed” and said: “You left China without a thought for the people whose investments you had stolen and enjoyed for a period of time a lavish lifestyle. You lied and schemed, all the while seeking to benefit yourself.”
Qian, who pleaded guilty to money laundering and transferring criminal property, was sentenced alongside her accomplice, Seng Hok Ling, 47, a Malaysian national. Ling, who assisted in moving and laundering the Bitcoin, received a prison term of four years and 11 months.