World Record of $7 Billion: Largest Bitcoin Fraud Uncovered in the UK

45-year-old Chinese fraudster Zhimin Qian, also known as Yadi Zhang, pleaded guilty in a London court for orchestrating a multibillion-dollar Bitcoin scam, after which British police seized cryptocurrency worth over $7 billion – the largest operation of its kind in history. This was reported by The Guardian.

History of the Largest Bitcoin Fraud

In the Southwark Crown Court, Qian admitted to obtaining and possessing cryptocurrency as criminal property from October 2017 to April 2024. In 2017, she fled China using a fake passport from Saint Kitts and Nevis, settled in the UK, and attempted to launder money by purchasing real estate with the help of Jian Wen, a 43-year-old Chinese fast-food worker.

Wen, who arrived in the UK in 2007 and lived modestly in Leeds until 2017, moved in with Qian in a luxurious six-bedroom house in Hampstead. She drove a Mercedes and sent her son to a private school in China, but insisted she was unaware of the criminal origins of the funds – she allegedly assisted in Qian's jewelry business in Singapore, Malaysia, and China.

In 2018, London police raided the Manor House mansion in Hampstead, seizing devices containing 61 thousand bitcoins – at the time a groundbreaking arrest. Qian fled, while Wen was sentenced in May 2024 to 6 years and 8 months in prison. In January, the court ordered her to repay over £3 million within three months (otherwise – an additional 7 years in jail), including assets from bitcoins and two properties in Dubai.

The investigation, according to the head of the economic and cybercrime unit, Will Lane, has become one of the largest in British history:

"This is one of the largest money laundering cases in British history and among the most valuable crypto cases globally. I am immensely proud of the team. Thanks to meticulous investigation and unprecedented cooperation with Chinese law enforcement, we gathered compelling evidence of the criminal origin of the crypto-assets that Qian attempted to launder in the UK... My thoughts are with the thousands of victims of this scheme."

This case is the tip of the iceberg in the global fight against crypto-fraud. Since 2014, Bitcoin has become a favorite tool for laundering: its decentralization complicates tracking, but the blockchain leaves an eternal trace. In China, where Qian's scams left 128 thousand victims, the government intensified crackdowns on crypto in 2017, banning ICOs and trading.

Earlier, we reported on a new fraud scheme in Telegram.