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The Metropolitan Police has secured a conviction in what’s believed to be the world’s largest cryptocurrency seizure, valued at greater than £5.5 billion ($7.3 billion).
Zhimin Qian, 47, often known as Yadi Zhang, pleaded responsible immediately at Southwark Crown Courtroom to buying and possessing felony property underneath the Proceeds of Crime Act. Police mentioned she carried out a multibillion-pound fraudulent Bitcoin scheme that defrauded greater than 128,000 victims in China between 2014 and 2017.
Qian was the mastermind behind an organization that promised traders excessive returns of 100%–300% of their funding. By this scheme, she reportedly raised 40 billion yuan from round 130,000 traders.
Her early promotion of Bitcoin earned her the nickname “Bitcoin Queen” in China, the place she promoted cryptocurrency as “digital gold”.
When the scheme collapsed in 2017, she transformed the proceeds into Bitcoin and fled China to the UK.
The Met launched its inquiry in 2018 after receiving intelligence in regards to the motion of the stolen cryptocurrency property, with the investigators seizing 61,000 Bitcoin.
On the time of the seizure, the holdings had been price lots of of hundreds of thousands of kilos. With the surge in Bitcoin’s worth over time, they’re now price roughly £5.5 billion.
After arriving within the UK, Qian tried to launder the funds by way of property purchases with the assistance of an affiliate, Jian Wen. Her arrest in 2018 triggered a multi-year investigation that required proof from a number of jurisdictions and cooperation with Chinese language legislation enforcement.
Wen was later sentenced to 6 years and eight months in jail for her function within the scheme.
“Right this moment’s responsible plea marks the fruits of years of devoted investigation by the Met’s Financial Crime groups and our associate,” mentioned Will Lyne, Head of the Met’s Financial and Cybercrime Command.
“This is without doubt one of the largest cash laundering instances in UK historical past and among the many highest-value cryptocurrency instances globally. I’m extraordinarily happy with the crew.”
“By a meticulous investigation and unprecedented cooperation with Chinese language legislation enforcement, we had been capable of receive compelling proof of the felony origins of the cryptoassets Qian tried to launder within the UK.”
The seizure surpasses earlier high-profile cryptocurrency recoveries, together with the U.S. Justice Division’s 2022 confiscation of over 94,000 Bitcoin linked to the Bitfinex hack, then valued at round $3.6 billion.
With 61,000 Bitcoin now seized by the UK, the case has now turn out to be the most important single crypto seizure in historical past.
46% of environments had passwords cracked, practically doubling from 25% final 12 months.
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