Bitcoin: British Justice Sentences the "Goddess of Wealth" to 11 Years and 8 Months in Prison

Sometimes justice catches up with the craftiest. In the global arena of crypto scammers, where schemes compete for ingenuity, Zhimin Qian has just entered the pantheon of fallen fraudsters. It is in London, far from the first Chinese victims, that her fate changes: sentenced to more than 11 years in prison. Behind her ambitions of grandeur and monarchical dreams, a crypto predation mechanism collapses. One among many, but one that symbolizes the scale of abuses that the crypto industry can generate when it escapes all control.

A Historic-Scale Bitcoin Fraud Judged in London

Zhimin Qian, 47, also known by the alias Yadi Zhang, was found guilty of money laundering and possession of criminal property. The Southwark court ruled: 11 years and 8 months in prison for profiting from a Ponzi scheme set up between 2014 and 2017 in China. The damage? More than 128,000 victims, and 61,000 bitcoins seized.

This trial has entered British judicial records. Will Lyne, head of economic crimes at the Metropolitan Police, highlighted:

Currently, this is the largest cryptocurrency seizure ever made by law enforcement in the United Kingdom, and the most significant money laundering case in the country’s history in terms of value.

Meanwhile, two accomplices were sentenced: Jian Wen to 6 years and 8 months, Seng Hok Ling to 4 years and 11 months. All contributed to moving funds through real estate acquisitions and dormant digital wallets.

A Crypto Fugitive Between Jewelry, Fake Passports and Royal Dreams

After leaving China with falsified papers, Zhimin Qian traveled across Europe. Between the Ritz-Carlton suites and Van Cleef & Arpels stores, she spent without counting. In London, she rented a manor for 17,000 pounds per month. Her ambition? To buy properties to launder her BTC. But her luxurious profile triggered alerts.

Her hunt truly began in 2018, when she failed KYC (Know Your Customer) checks attempting to purchase three properties totaling 40.5 million pounds. Then, she disappeared. Until her reappearance in 2024, thanks to the imprudent use of an inactive crypto wallet, which led to her arrest.

Her personal diary, seized by police, reveals delirious ambitions:

[I want] to become the monarch of Liberland, a self-proclaimed country constituted of a strip of land between Croatia and Serbia 

Qian also nurtured the dream of mingling with British royalty. A fantasy interrupted by judicial reality, which reminds us that the crypto-sphere, as decentralized as it may be, is not above the law.

Crypto, Scams and Bitter Lessons for Investors

This case reignites the debate on regulation in the crypto sector. Qian is not the first, nor will she be the last to have exploited the regulatory void to build a fraudulent empire. Many of her victims, according to lawyer Jackson Ng, were modest profiles: taxi drivers, butchers, farmers… lured by promises of enormous returns.

Key points of the Qian case:

• 128,000 people scammed between 2014 and 2017 through the company Lantian Green;
• 61,000 BTC seized, equivalent to over 6 billion dollars;
• Qian fled for 7 years across Europe under multiple identities;
• Bitcoin was worth $3600 in 2018, against more than $100,000 today;
• Three convictions in total: Qian, Wen, and Ling.

The case echoes other recent crypto scandals. It raises a fundamental question: how to protect crypto investors without stifling innovation? Between speculative euphoria and savers’ naivety, the line is often blurred.

The fall of Zhimin Qian only revives the memories of another famous ghost: Ruja Ignatova. The founder of OneCoin, nicknamed the “Cryptoqueen,” is believed to have been murdered by a drug lord, according to a recent chilling revelation. A grim fate for the one who embodied, like Qian, the other face of crypto promises.