Chinese fraudster Zhimin Qian – also known as “Yadi Zhang” – has been sentenced in London to 11 years and eight months for laundering billions in bitcoin linked to a vast Ponzi scheme that defrauded more than 128,000 investors in China. The UK’s largest-ever crypto seizure, more than 61,000 BTC, now sits at the centre of complex cross-border restitution battles.
Jian Wen, a former fast food worker, has been sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for laundering bitcoin linked to an alleged $5.6 billion investment fraud in China. She claimed to be a victim herself. Wen's conviction is a significant development in the ongoing investigation into a massive financial crime that saw over 61,000 bitcoin, now worth more than $4 billion, seized by authorities.