"At least 61,000 bitcoins have been seized from Qian, police officials said. Qian fled China using false documents and entered the UK in September 2018. Police said she attempted to launder the proceeds via purchasing property, with the assistance of an assailant, Jian Wen. Qian's arrest and conviction bring to an end a seven-year investigation into her global money laundering scheme, the Met Police said."
"Detective sergeant Isabella Grotto, who led the Met's investigation, said: Today marks the result of years of painstaking work. When our team located Zhimin Qian, she had been evading justice for five years, and her arrest triggered a complex investigation requiring evidence from multiple jurisdictions and the careful review of thousands of documents, she said."
"This is one of the largest money laundering cases in UK history and among the highest-value cryptocurrency cases globally, said Will Lyne, the Met's Head of Economic and Cybercrime Command. The probe helped the Met secure compelling evidence of the criminal origins of the cryptoassets Qian attempted to launder in the UK."
Zhimin Qian, also known as Yadi Zhang, pleaded guilty in Britain to illegally acquiring and possessing large amounts of bitcoin. Between 2014 and 2017 she orchestrated a large-scale fraud in China that cheated over 128,000 victims. Police seized at least 61,000 bitcoins linked to the scheme, with an estimated value exceeding $5.5 billion. Qian fled China using false documents and entered the UK in September 2018. She attempted to launder proceeds through property purchases with the assistance of an accomplice, Jian Wen. Her arrest concluded a seven-year international money laundering investigation.
Read at www.independent.co.uk
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