UK woman Wen Jian guilty of laundering bitcoin from US$6.3 billion China fraud
- Prosecutors say she helped hide the source of money allegedly stolen from nearly 130,000 Chinese investors by mastermind Qian Zhimin
- As part of the investigation, UK police seized wallets holding over 61,000 bitcoin, in one of the largest cryptocurrency seizures worldwide
A woman accused of converting bitcoin into cash and property to help hide the proceeds of a £5 billion (US$6.3 billion) fraud was this week convicted of one count of money laundering after a trial in a London court.
Prosecutors said Wen Jian helped hide the source of money allegedly stolen from nearly 130,000 Chinese investors in fraudulent wealth schemes between 2014 and 2017.
She was not alleged to have been involved in the underlying fraud, which prosecutors said was masterminded by a woman known to Wen as Zhang Yadi, whose real name is Qian Zhimin.
As part of their investigation, British police seized wallets holding more than 61,000 bitcoin – making it one of the largest cryptocurrency seizures by law enforcement worldwide.
The 61,000 bitcoin was worth around £1.4 billion when police gained access in 2021, prosecutors said during Wen’s trial. It is now worth over £3 billion.
Wen, 42, denied three counts of money laundering, giving evidence that Zhang – who fled Britain in 2020 and whose whereabouts are unknown – told her she was independently wealthy and that Wen did not have any knowledge of criminality.
