Chinese national Zhimin Qian, also known as Yadi Zhang, has been sentenced to 11 years and 8 months in prison by Southwark Crown Court for running one of the largest investment frauds in Chinese history, scamming over 120,000 elderly investors.
đ„ Her empire, Lantian Gerui, lured victims with promises of wealth from crypto mining and health tech ventures â but prosecutors revealed it was nothing more than a massive pyramid scheme.
đ Qian fled China in 2017 using a fake passport and lived luxuriously in London, renting a $21,000-a-month Hampstead mansion until her arrest in April 2024. Police seized 61,000 BTC â now worth around $6.4 billion â in whatâs being called the largest crypto seizure ever.
đ§ Her British associate Seng Hok Ling got 4 years 11 months, while Jian Wen, her ex-aide, was jailed last year for laundering her fortune.
đŹ Qianâs diaries revealed bizarre ambitions â from buying a castle in Sweden to becoming âQueen of Liberlandâ, a micronation where Tron founder Justin Sun is now prime minister.
âïž The seized Bitcoin has triggered a UKâChina tug-of-war over who owns it â the defrauded investors or the British state, which may keep part of it under its Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme.
đ As one crypto analyst noted:
> âThis could mark the birth of the UKâs first Bitcoin reserve â born from fraud, reborn as fiscal power.â