Zhimin Qian, the mastermind behind a £5.5bn bitcoin Ponzi scheme that defrauded over 128,000 victims in China, has been sentenced to 11 years and eight months in prison. The 46-year-old was arrested in York in April 2024 after a five-year manhunt that began when she narrowly escaped police raiding her six-bedroom London home.
Qian's associate, Seng Hok Ling, a Malaysian national, received four years and 11 months. The case involved the UK's largest cryptocurrency seizure, with more than 61,000 bitcoins worth billions of pounds recovered from Qian's London property. Civil proceedings are ongoing to determine how much will be returned to victims.
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, Roger Sahota, said: 'She never set out to commit fraud but recognises her investment schemes were fraudulent. She is deeply sorry for the distress suffered by investors.'
Qian's criminal career began in 2012 with smaller pyramid schemes in China. In 2014, she launched a vast crypto investment scheme through a Tianjin-based company called Blue Sky, luring victims with promises of massive returns. She fled China in July 2017, travelling overland on a moped to Myanmar, having swindled an estimated 40bn yuan (£4.3bn), most of which she converted into bitcoin.
Qian arrived in the UK in autumn 2017 using a St Kitts and Nevis passport under the alias Yadi Zhang. During her time on the run, she spent nearly £92,000 on designer goods at Harrods, travelled through Europe, and avoided countries with extradition treaties with China. Police tracked her after a dormant bitcoin wallet became active in February 2024, leading to her arrest at a quiet Airbnb in suburban York alongside four Malaysian nationals working illegally as domestic staff.
