Woman behind £4 billion fraud jailed for more than eleven years

A Chinese ‘Bitcoin queen’ who ran a £4.6 billion investment scam and planned to reign over own European country was jailed for more than 11 years today (tues).

Zhimin Qian, also known as Yadi Zhang, 47, ripped off more than 128,000 investors in a wealth management swindle and fled China in 2017.

Qian – which means money in Chinese – flew to the UK using a bogus St Kitts and Nevis passport in the name Yadi Zhang.

She worked with Chinese takeaway worker Jian Wen, 43, who acted as a front in her massive fraud.

Qian was finally arrested in York in April 2024 after police found 61,000 Bitcoin in digital wallets at her £5m six-bedroom rented house in Hampstead.

She was discovered with four members of her ‘domestic’ staff all flown in from abroad to work for Qian while she continued to evade police for six years.

Qian wrote her plans about the kingdom she would rule in Liberland, an unrecognised micronation on the Danube, where she hoped to build the biggest Buddhist temple in Europe.

The seized crypto-currency, now worth more than £5.5 billion, is subject to an ongoing legal battle between the UK government and investors at the High Court.

The fortune has been reportedly earmarked by Chancellor Rachel Reeves to help plug the hole in the public finances.

Wen was jailed for six years and eight months for her part in the scam in May 2025.

Malaysian Seng Hok Ling, 47, took over from Wen as Qian’s ‘butler’ by booking Airbnbs, including in Scotland, for the fugitive while she was on the run.

Qian admitted acquiring and possessing cryptocurrency, between October 2017 and April 2024 on the first day of her trial at Southwark Crown Court in September.

Ling, of Matlock, Derbyshire, admitted transferring criminal property, namely
crypto-currency.

Judge Sally Ann Hales, KC, said: ‘Zhimin Qian you were the architect of this offending from the inception to its conclusion, the scale of your money laundering is unprecedented.

‘Your motivation was one of pure greed, you left China without a thought of the people whose investments you had stolen and enjoyed, for a period of time, a lavish lifestyle.

‘You lied and schemed, all the while seeking to benefit yourself.

‘With the assistance of people you recruited and who’s loyalty you bought you succeeded in evading justice for over seven years.’

Qian was jailed for a total of 11 years of eight months.

She will also be subject to a serious harm prevention order for five years after her release from prison.

Qian’s ‘trusted aide’ Ling, who was said to have ignored serious ‘red flags’ about his boss, was jailed for a total of four years and 11 months.

Gillian Jones KC, prosecuting, previously told the court: ‘This case concerns the laundering of huge quantities of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency, purchased using money stolen from people who had invested, in some cases their life savings, in various wealth management products fraudulently offered by a company based in China called Lantian Gerui.

‘A company which was set up and run, along with others by Ms Qian.

Bitcoin purchased using the proceeds of that fraudulent investment scheme was brought to the UK, where it was laundered by Ms Qian with the assistance of two individuals Ms Wen and Mr Ling.’

She said contracts entered into by investors in China ‘were not worth the paper they were written on.

‘Marriages and families were destroyed and friendships ruined due to the losses individuals suffered from the fraud.

‘The subsequent police investigation revealed that between 2014 and 2017 over RMB 40 billion, which equates to approximately £4.6 billion was invested into the fraudulent scheme, by approximately 128,409 investors across China.’

Qian then removed £305m of investor money from China via a 70,000 Bitcoin transfer to a cryptocurrency wallet stored on a laptop, Ms Jones said.

She arrived in Heathrow on 16 September 2017 after travelling between several countries under a false passport after being granted St Kitts and Nevis citizenship.

In London, Qian struck up a working relationship with Wen who became a ‘trusted assistant.’

Ms Jones continued: ‘Over the months and years following her arrival in the UK, Ms Qian travelled extensively throughout Europe often accompanied by Ms Wen, staying in expensive hotels and sightseeing.

‘During these trips Bitcoin was transferred and sold in exchange for cash, fine jewellery bought and property in Europe considered for purchase.

‘Care was taken to avoid countries that had an extradition treaty with China, with travel around Europe being predominantly by car to avoid customs checks.’

The two women were arrested on 5 September 2018 for money laundering at Dublin airport but were both subsequently released.

The Met Police became involved on 10 October 2018 after contacting Wen about money frozen in a Mishcon de Reya account over the attempted purchase of an expensive central London property.

Qian was found by officers ‘upstairs in bed’ and when spoken to told them ‘she was ill with a sore leg and brain injury.’

Investigators seized a digital wallet containing 36,000 Bitcoin worth approximately £191.6m but were ‘entirely unaware of the extent of that they had uncovered.

‘The police had no idea of the amount of cryptocurrency they had seized nor of its connection to criminality in China’, Ms Jones said.

Documents seized included a diary written by Qian recording her ‘aspirations and intentions.

‘For example in October 2018, she wrote out her plans which included buying a big house and a small house, starting a company, and selling £200,000 Bitcoin a month.

‘In a further document Ms Qian outlined her plans for 2018-2023, which included her intention to become the monarch of Liberland, a self-proclaimed country consisting of a strip of land between Croatia and Serbia.’

Wen was later charged and appeared at Southwark Crown Court charged with money laundering offences across two trials in 2023 and 2024 respectively.

‘For nearly six years, Ms Qian managed to evade arrest’, Ms Jones explained.

She was eventually located after a transfer of 8.2 Bitcoin was made during Wen’s trial from a long-dormant cryptocurrency wallet known as Rainbow to an address ending ‘zs69’.

The account holder was Seng Hok Ling and further inquiries into Ling led the police to an Airbnb at 17 Ryecroft Avenue in York, the court heard.

‘On 22 April 2024, a search warrant was executed.

‘Found at the property were Ms Qian, along with four further individuals: Gilbert Lee Tze Tien, Wei Cheng Chang, Ling Seng Ziang and Meng Hwa Ng.

‘Those four individuals had been living at the address, working on Ms Qian’s behalf, carrying out tasks such as shopping, security, cooking, and cleaning, as she continued to remain hidden away from the authorities.

‘They were all foreign nationals brought specifically to the UK to work for her, they were not permitted to work in the UK so were less likely to go to the police, and the contracts they signed had punitive financial consequences if they were breached.’

Found in the Airbnb were two laptops found in a Faraday bag worth £97.3m.

Ms Jones added: ’Found sewn into a pair of jogging bottoms was an Iron Key.

When analysed it was found to contain a cryptocurrency wallet containing 3,605,990 XRP. Worth approximately £6.6m at that time.’

In police interview Qian ‘maintained her innocence’ and stated that the Chinese authorities ‘had made false allegations against her’, the prosecutor said.

‘Her expenditure when she arrived in the UK was because she felt she would die soon, and it was her last chance to spend money.’