Zhimin Qian, 47, tricked more than 128,000 victims in China and tried to hide stolen cryptocurrency in UK property.
UK courts convicted Qian for leading a Bitcoin fraud tied to the world’s largest cryptocurrency seizure worth £5.5 billion.
Qian, also called Yadi Zhang, admitted at Southwark Crown Court that she illegally acquired and held the cryptocurrency.
Escape and Money Laundering
Police said her guilty plea followed a seven-year international investigation into money laundering.
Between 2014 and 2017, Qian defrauded thousands in China and converted stolen funds into Bitcoin assets.
She fled China with forged documents, entered the UK, and attempted to launder her ill-gotten gains by buying property in 2018.
Authorities seized 61,000 Bitcoins from Qian, marking one of the largest cryptocurrency recoveries in UK history.
Legal Action and Warnings
Will Lyne, head of economic and cybercrime command, called this one of the largest UK money laundering cases.
Earlier, authorities convicted Jian Wen, 43, for helping Qian in the Bitcoin fraud; they jailed her for six years and eight months.
Qian will receive her sentence later.
Robin Weyell, deputy chief crown prosecutor, said criminals increasingly use cryptocurrencies to hide and move illegal assets.
Weyell added that the CPS will block fraudsters from regaining stolen assets using confiscation and civil actions.
