Overview
- Southwark Crown Court sentenced Qian, 47, to 11 years and eight months after she admitted possessing and transferring criminal property.
- Metropolitan Police recovered over 61,000 bitcoin, currently valued at about £5 billion, in the UK’s largest-ever cryptocurrency seizure.
- Prosecutors said the Lantian Gerui scheme defrauded roughly 128,000 investors in China between 2014 and 2017, with billions siphoned into bitcoin and laundered through luxury purchases and property attempts in Europe and the UK.
- Accomplice Seng Hok Ling was jailed for four years and eleven months, while earlier co‑conspirator Jian Wen received six years and eight months for money laundering.
- A Crown Prosecution Service civil recovery process is under way to determine how seized crypto and other assets will be returned to victims.