"The United Kingdom has sentenced a Chinese woman to 11 years and eight months in prison for a years-long scheme to launder investment scam proceeds into Bitcoin, luxury property, and other assets now worth about 4.8 billion British pounds ($6.3bn). Zhimin Qian, 47, was sentenced by the Southwark Crown Court in London on Tuesday, in a case that saw UK police seize a record-breaking 61,000 Bitcoin as part of their investigation."
"Will Lyne, the Metropolitan Police's head of Economic and Cybercrime Command, described the case as one of the largest and most complex economic crime investigations ever undertaken by the Met. This is currently the largest cryptocurrency seizure by law enforcement in the UK and is the largest money laundering case in UK history by value, he said in a statement."
"UK authorities allege that Qian helped mastermind an investment scam in China between 2014 and 2017 that defrauded 128,000 people out of roughly 4.6bn, according to sentencing remarks from Judge Sally-Ann Hales. Much of the funds were later recovered by police in China, but Hales said that a sizeable amount was siphoned off and used by Qian, and transferred into 70,000 Bitcoin stored on a laptop wallet."
Zhimin Qian, 47, also known as Yadi Zhang, was convicted of money laundering and possessing illegally obtained cryptocurrency and sentenced to 11 years and eight months in prison. UK police seized a record 61,000 Bitcoin in the investigation. Authorities allege Qian helped mastermind a China-based investment scam between 2014 and 2017 that defrauded about 128,000 people of roughly £4.6 billion. Much of the stolen funds were later recovered in China, but a sizeable amount was siphoned off, converted into tens of thousands of Bitcoin and stored in a laptop wallet. Qian fled China in 2017, traveled internationally, attempted high-value London property purchases in 2018, and evaded capture until later seizures and prosecutions.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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