“You’re under arrest. You’re going to be arrested for money laundering.”
These were some of the last words Zhimin Qian heard as a free woman before she was arrested for allegedly laundering billions of dollars in cryptocurrency.
‘… compelling evidence of the criminal origins of the crypto assets …’
Qian, 47, was dubbed the “Goddess of Wealth” due to a lavish lifestyle acquired through money laundering with her accomplice, Malaysian national Hok Seng Ling, also 47. Qian is Chinese.
Police investigated Qian and conducted a search of her Hampstead, London, mansion in October 2018 after she attempted to buy another house worth over $16 million. According to the Telegraph, police found laptops, cash, and even a “treasure map” to a safe-deposit box in London. The drawn map simply labeled two streets and noted a “Metropolitan Safe Deposit.”
Another laptop was recovered from the deposit box in 2022, which reportedly stored billions of British pounds’ worth of crypto.
Qian was not shy about her spending while on the run for six years across Europe, allegedly staying in luxury hotels and purchasing high-end properties.
By the time of her arrest in April 2024, she was reportedly worth over $7 billion in Bitcoin assets. She had previously purchased a property in North London worth millions, along with other properties in Dubai.
The two criminals allegedly defrauded more than 128,000 people in China between 2014 and 2017 before Qian fled the country.
Qian traveled with false documents and went to the United Kingdom, where she laundered her money through her property ventures, Metro reported, citing police.
Both appeared in Southwark Crown Court in London, where Qian was sentenced to 11 years and eight months in prison, while Ling received a sentence of four years and 11 months.
Qian and Ling allegedly had an accomplice named Jian Wen, who was previously jailed for six years and eight months after being arrested with Bitcoin wallets also worth billions.
The illegally obtained Bitcoin reportedly represents the largest ever cryptocurrency seizure of Bitcoin, and it all came from just three people.
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Ling pleaded guilty to entering a money laundering arrangement, while Qian admitted to money laundering and “knowing or suspecting [Ling’s] actions would facilitate the acquisition or control of criminal property by another.”
London Metropolitan Police said they had been working for years to investigate the crimes and said that in addition to being perhaps the largest cryptocurrency case in the world, it was also “one of the largest money laundering cases in U.K. history.”
“Through a meticulous investigation and unprecedented cooperation with Chinese law enforcement, we were able to obtain compelling evidence of the criminal origins of the crypto assets the pair attempted to launder in the U.K.,” said Will Lyne, head of Economic and Cybercrime Command for the London police.
He added, “My thoughts are with the thousands of victims defrauded in this scheme, and I hope this outcome acknowledges the harm these defendants inflicted and reinforces the Met’s unwavering commitment to justice.”
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Bitcoin, Return, Money laundering, China, Malaysia, Asia, Chinese, Cryptocurrency, United kingdom, Money, Scam, Tech