London — The mastermind of a vast Ponzi scheme in China was on Tuesday jailed in Britain for more than 11 years for laundering the proceeds of fraud into cryptocurrency.
Qian Zhimin pleaded guilty to two money laundering charges in September, after an investigation during which British police seized more than 61,000 bitcoin — now worth more than $6bn — in one of the largest-ever cryptocurrency seizures.
Qian wept in the dock at London’s Southwark Crown Court as judge Sally-Ann Hales said: “You were the architect of this offending from its inception to its conclusion ... your motive was one of pure greed.”
Qian, 47, changed her pleas on what was due to be the first day of her trial, admitting possessing and transferring criminal property. She previously claimed she was the target of a Chinese government “crackdown on successful crypto entrepreneurs”.
Prosecutors said Qian ran an investment fraud in 2014-17, into which around 128,000 people invested about 40-billion renminbi ($5.62bn), about 6-billion renminbi of which was siphoned off. More than 80 people were convicted in China.
Qian fled China via Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Malaysia, before she flew to London on a St Kitts and Nevis passport and began trying to convert bitcoin bought with the proceeds of the fraud into cash, prosecutors said.
Reuters
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