Chinese Fraudster Jailed For 11 Years In Britain Over $6 Billion Bitcoin Scam

Last Updated:November 11, 2025, 23:49 IST

Qian Zhimin was jailed in Britain for laundering billions from a Lantian Gerui fraud, with 61,000 bitcoin seized and victims facing a legal battle for compensation.

Qian Zhimin

A 47-year-old Chinese woman, who conned about 130,000 investors, was jailed in Britain for over 11 years for laundering the earned amount from the fraud into cryptocurrency now worth billions of dollars.

According to Reuters, Qian Zhimin pleaded guilty to two money laundering charges in September, after an investigation during which British police seized more than 61,000 bitcoin – currently worth over $6 billion – in one of the largest ever cryptocurrency seizures.

During the trial, the prosecutors said Qian and her co-conspirators spent more than $13.34 million on jewellery from the proceeds of the fraud.

While sentencing her to 11 years and eight months, Judge Sally-Ann Hales said: “You were the architect of this offending from its inception to its conclusion … your motive was one of pure greed."

According to Reuters, while the criminal proceedings have finished, there remains a looming legal battle over the fate of the seized bitcoin and how the victims of the fraud are repaid, with British prosecutors mulling a compensation scheme for victims.

Meanwhile, Qian’s lawyers have said that “astronomic rise in the value of bitcoin means it will greatly exceed the amount needed to compensate victims".

Qian operated an investment fraud through her Lantian Gerui company between 2014 and 2017, into which about 128,000 people invested roughly $5.62 billion, about 6 billion of which was siphoned off. More than 80 people were convicted in China.

However, Qian fled China via Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Malaysia before reaching London on a St Kitts and Nevis passport and began trying to convert bitcoin bought with the proceeds of the fraud into cash, prosecutors said. They said the victims had lost their life savings, homes or marriages.

News world Chinese Fraudster Jailed For 11 Years In Britain Over $6 Billion Bitcoin Scam

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