Bitcoin fraudster caught with £67m worth of cryptocurrency in his pants
A criminal involved in a massive cryptocurrency seizure of £5.1bn has recently provided authorities with access to an additional £67m in digital currency after the discovery of a storage device hidden within her clothing. Zhimin Qian pleaded guilty to money laundering charges at Southwark Crown Court last month and has agreed to forfeit all her ill-gotten cryptocurrency. The 47-year-old, also known as Yadi Zhang, orchestrated a fraudulent scheme in China between 2014 and 2017, defrauding over 128,000 victims and storing the illicit proceeds in Bitcoin assets. The Metropolitan Police identified Qian as a key figure in the scam.
After relocating to the UK in 2018 using forged documents, Qian attempted to launder the money by acquiring property with the assistance of Jian Wen, who played a part in the scheme that landed her in prison the previous year after being found in possession of Bitcoin wallets exceeding £2 billion. When authorities raided Qian’s residence in Hamsptead three years ago, they seized the initial £5.1bn in Bitcoin. Despite going on the run, she was apprehended in York, where a hidden pocket containing a digital device holding the extra £67m was discovered in her trousers. Qian then cooperated with law enforcement by providing them access codes and passwords during interviews in prison last month.
During a recent High Court session, prosecutors declared that the seized cryptocurrency would be utilized to establish a compensation program for Qian’s victims. It remains unclear whether the victims, many of whom invested in Qian’s Tianjin Lantian Gerui Electronic Technology Company, will be compensated with their original investments or with the augmented value of Bitcoin, which, since 2017, has climbed from £750 to a record-breaking £94,000 by October 2025. Lawyers in the UK representing over 1,000 victims seek the current value of the assets, insisting that the frozen Bitcoin should be returned to its rightful owners.
William Glover from the law firm Fieldfisher emphasized that numerous victims, including seniors and vulnerable individuals, lost substantial sums, some even their life savings, due to Qian’s scheme. He argued that these victims have endured a decade without access to their funds and are entitled to recover them from the frozen Bitcoin. He highlights that the UK government cannot dispose of the frozen assets as they belong to the victims and not the state. The victims’ legal and proprietary rights should take precedence over any other claims on the assets.
