Chinese businesswoman Qian Zhimin admitted at London's Southwark Crown Court that she had masterminded a large-scale fraud case involving billions of pounds sterling.
The 47-year-old, who used the alias Zhang Yadi (phonetic spelling), pleaded guilty on the 29th to a world-class cryptocurrency seizure case. The Bitcoin assets seized are currently worth about £5.5 billion (31.136 billion ringgit). She admitted to acquiring and holding these illegal proceeds.
According to a statement from the London Metropolitan Police, 'From 2014 to 2017, Zhang Yadi orchestrated a massive fraud case in China, deceiving over 128,000 victims, and subsequently converted the illegal gains into Bitcoin assets.'
Police added that Zhang later used forged documents to flee China, entered the UK, and in September 2018 attempted to launder money by purchasing real estate.
Ryan, head of the Economic and Cyber Crime Command at the UK Police, said that this 'is not only one of the largest cases in UK history, but also ranks among the biggest globally in terms of the amount involved in cryptocurrency cases.'
The investigation into this case lasted seven years. Last year, a female accomplice, Wen Jian (phonetic spelling), was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison. According to the police, Wen assisted in transferring a cryptocurrency wallet containing 150 bitcoins, which were then worth about £1.7 million (9.6239 million ringgit).
According to previous reports, the trial is expected to last 12 weeks and will conclude before Christmas. Under the judicial cooperation framework between China and the UK, Chinese law enforcement officers will testify in London during the period, and several Chinese victims will testify via remote video in court in Tianjin.