LONDON – Zhimin Qian, a 47-year-old Chinese woman, has pleaded guilty in a London court on Monday to charges stemming from a multibillion-pound bitcoin fraud scheme, following what authorities describe as the world’s largest cryptocurrency seizurereuters.comnews.met.police.uk. Qian admitted to possessing and transferring criminal property – namely illicit bitcoin – linked to an alleged £5 billion ($6.7 billion) fraud that spanned several yearsreuters.com.
Fraud Scheme and Record Bitcoin Seizure
British prosecutors say Qian (also known by the alias Yadi Zhang) orchestrated a fraudulent investment scheme in China between 2014 and 2017, defrauding more than 128,000 people and raising approximately £5 billion from victimsnews.met.police.uknews.sky.com. She allegedly promised investors in these wealth schemes extraordinarily high returns and secretly converted the proceeds into bitcoin, which she stashed in digital wallets before fleeing to the United Kingdomnews.sky.comtherecord.media.
After leaving China on a false St. Kitts and Nevis passport in 2017, Qian settled in Britain and moved into a luxury £5 million rented mansion in north Londonnews.sky.comnews.sky.com. In October 2018, the Metropolitan Police raided Qian’s residence in the Hampstead area and discovered wallets holding over 61,000 bitcoins on her encrypted devicestheguardian.com. The massive hoard – valued at more than £5 billion at current prices – is believed to be the single largest cryptocurrency seizure ever recorded by law enforcementtheguardian.comnews.met.police.uk.
How the Scam Operated and Unraveled
Investigators say Qian’s bitcoin cache represented the illicit gains of her fraud, which offered phony investment products to victims and funneled their money into digital assets. When Chinese authorities cracked down on such schemes in 2017, Qian’s operation collapsed, and she fled abroadtherecord.mediatherecord.media. Once in the UK, she attempted to launder the cryptocurrency by purchasing real estate and running businesses with the help of local associatesnews.sky.comtherecord.media. One accomplice, Jian Wen, joined Qian in 2018 to buy lavish properties and conceal the funds’ origintherecord.media. Wen, a 43-year-old former restaurant worker, was later caught and convicted of laundering a portion of the money (150 BTC) and jailed for six years and eight months in 2024news.sky.com.
Qian remained a fugitive for nearly five years after the 2018 raid, evading capture while moving between locations in the UKnews.sky.com. Police finally tracked her down by surveilling another associate, Hok Seng Ling, who had replaced Wen as Qian’s personal assistant or “butler” and was arranging safehouses and cryptocurrency transactions for hernews.sky.comnews.sky.com. In April 2024, officers arrested Qian during a coordinated operation in the city of York, seizing additional cash, gold, and crypto assets in the processnews.sky.com. Ling, a 47-year-old Malaysian national, was arrested alongside her and has since pleaded guilty to money laundering for his role in facilitating Qian’s activitiesnews.sky.comnews.sky.com.
Arrest, Prosecution, and Upcoming Sentencing
Following her arrest, Qian was charged under the UK Proceeds of Crime Act for acquiring and possessing criminal property (the bitcoin funds). On 29 September 2025, she appeared at Southwark Crown Court for the first day of her trial but abruptly changed her plea to guilty on both countsreuters.com. Judge Sally-Ann Hales remanded Qian in custody, and she is scheduled to be sentenced at a two-day hearing on November 10–11, 2025, alongside co-defendant Lingnews.met.police.uk.
Officials have indicated that Qian faces a substantial prison term given the scale of the crime. “This is one of the largest money laundering cases in UK history and among the highest-value cryptocurrency cases globally,” said Commander Will Lyne, head of the Metropolitan Police’s economic and cybercrime unitnews.met.police.uk. By comparison, a lower-level participant like Jian Wen received nearly seven years’ imprisonment for her part in the schemenews.met.police.uk. Qian’s guilty plea – following a seven-year international investigation with assistance from Chinese law enforcement – marks a significant victory for prosecutors. “The UK will never be a safe haven for criminals and their ill-gotten gains,” Security Minister Dan Jarvis said in praising the convictionnews.sky.com.
Seized Cryptocurrency: Legal Battle and Market Implications
The fate of the 61,000 seized bitcoins (now worth roughly £5.5 billion, or $7 billion) remains unresolved as authorities and claimants grapple over ownership. UK prosecutors have obtained freezing orders on the cryptoassets and are moving to confiscate them as proceeds of crimenews.met.police.uk. However, the bulk of the bitcoin haul is now tied up in a High Court battle, as groups of defrauded Chinese investors demand the funds be returned to the fraud’s victims in Chinanews.sky.comtherecord.media. British media report that the UK government is eager to retain the windfall – even eyeing it to help plug public budget holes – while the Chinese victims press for repatriation of their lost moneynews.sky.comtherecord.media.
There is also intense speculation about the impact on the bitcoin market if and when these coins are liquidated. Earlier this year, reports emerged that the British authorities might sell off the seized bitcoin once legal proceedings conclude, similar to steps taken by Germany in 2024coindesk.com. German authorities’ sale of roughly 50,000 confiscated bitcoins last year was noted to have put “considerable selling pressure” on bitcoin’s price at the timecoindesk.com. Given the even larger size of Qian’s stash, any large-scale auction or dumping of the coins by the government could ripple through cryptocurrency markets. For now, the seized bitcoins remain securely in police custody and out of circulation pending the court’s final decision, insulating the market from immediate shocks.
Sources: Metropolitan Policenews.met.police.uknews.met.police.uk; Reutersreuters.comreuters.com; Sky Newsnews.sky.comnews.sky.com; The Guardiantheguardian.com; CoinDeskcoindesk.com; Recorded Future Newstherecord.media.
