The mastermind behind one of China’s largest financial frauds has pleaded guilty in a London court, confessing to her role in laundering a record-breaking amount of cryptocurrency.
Chinese national Zhimin Qian (aka Yadi Zhang), 47, admitted to unlawfully acquiring and possessing cryptocurrency at Southwark Crown Court on Monday, September 29, 2025. This seals her conviction in what authorities term the world’s largest cryptocurrency seizure, where police confiscated over 61,000 Bitcoin, now worth over £5.5 billion, bringing a seven-year, multi-jurisdictional money laundering investigation to a dramatic turn.
The £5billion Ponzi Scheme
Authorities allege that between 2014 and 2017, Qian carried out a vast Ponzi-style investment scheme known as the Lantian Gerui fraud (where money from new investors is used to pay earlier investors) through a company, Tianjin Lantian Gerui Electronic Technology.
Qian, reportedly, lured around 128,000 victims (many of them aged 50 to 75) with promises of high returns, sometimes as high as 300 per cent. When the scheme collapsed, Qian converted the illegally obtained funds into Bitcoin and fled China using fake documents.
A Historic Seizure in London
Qian entered the UK in 2017 and recruited Jian Wen, 44, a Chinese takeaway worker, as a ‘front person’ to launder the digital cash into luxury assets. Their lifestyle rapidly transformed from living in a basement room under a Chinese restaurant to renting a “multi-million-pound” 6-bedroom house in North London in 2017 for £17,000 a month. She also bought properties in Dubai worth over £500,000. Her attempts to buy luxury London properties alerted anti-money laundering authorities in 2018.
The Metropolitan Police raided their rented home in October 2018, seizing over £300 million worth of Bitcoin from Wen, which was part of the final amount. Although electronic devices were seized, the authorities did not realise they contained the digital keys to the enormous 61,000 Bitcoin fortune until 2021.
This complex investigation involved unprecedented cooperation with law enforcement teams in Tianjin and Beijing, China. Detective Sargent Isabella Grotto, who led the investigation, noted that Qian had been successfully avoiding justice for five years. She was eventually arrested in April 2024, whereas Wen was convicted last year and jailed for six years and eight months.
Battle Over the Billions
The focus has now shifted to who gets this fortune. The UK’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has seized the funds under the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA), holding them until a High Court decision. The money is now subject to an intense contest between the UK and Chinese governments.
Chinese victims/authorities argue that the money is simply their stolen property, taken from 128,000 investors in China, and must be returned. The UK government, specifically Chancellor Rachel Reeves, has shown interest in using the money to help balance the national budget.
No matter who receives the funds, this conviction proves that the UK is not a place for criminals to hide their stolen wealth. Qian remains in custody and will be sentenced soon.
