A Chinese woman who masterminded a £5.5bn bitcoin Ponzi scheme has been jailed for 11 years and eight months after evading capture in the UK for six years. Zhimin Qian, 46, defrauded more than 128,000 victims in China before fleeing to Britain in 2017, where she lived in a six-bedroom London house.
Police tracked Qian down in April 2024 after a dormant bitcoin wallet became active. She was arrested in a quiet Airbnb in suburban York alongside four Malaysian nationals working illegally as her domestic staff. Her associate, Seng Hok Ling, received four years and 11 months.
Qian's scheme, run through a Tianjin-based company called 'Blue Sky', promised massive returns on crypto investments. Victims described losing their homes and families. 'I was forced to sell my house. Now I have no fixed abode,' one victim wrote. Another said: 'My wife divorced me. I was mentally broken.'
The Metropolitan Police seized more than 61,000 bitcoins from Qian's home, currently valued at around £5bn, in what is described as the UK's largest cryptocurrency seizure. Civil proceedings are underway to determine how much will be returned to victims in China.
Judge Sally-Ann Hales KC told Qian at Southwark Crown Court: 'The scale of your money laundering is unprecedented. Your motive was one of pure greed.' Qian's lawyer said she is 'deeply sorry for the distress suffered by investors'.
