Behind the UK's largest bitcoin money laundering case: a Chinese woman was sentenced to 6 years in prison for more than 40 billion non-sucking cases involving China

Observer.com

2024-05-29 11:31Posted on the official account of Shanghai Observer.com

(Text/He Xige Editor/Zhang Guangkai)

In the early morning of October 31, 2018, a group of British police officers armed with search warrants raided the mansion of two Chinese women in Hampstead, north London, an old and wealthy area of Britain.

A few hours later, police seized multiple laptops, notepads, £70,000 in cash, a "hardware wallet" with cryptocurrency keys, and a slip of paper with a handwritten password.

Cash seized by police Photo/British police

Unrealising at the time, the investigators had just conducted one of the largest seizures of bitcoin in the UK's history – the discovery of 61,000 bitcoins in hardware wallets. The cryptocurrency was worth £1.4 billion (about 12.46 billion yuan at the exchange rate at the time), and at the current price of bitcoin, it was worth more than £3.26 billion (about 30.2 billion yuan).

Two and a half years later, in May 2021, British police arrested one of the Chinese-British women, Wen Jian.

Not long ago, the case ushered in a phased result. On May 24, local time, a court in London, England, made a sentencing ruling that Wen Jian was sentenced to 6 years and 8 months in prison for assisting his employer in money laundering. The court also revealed that the cryptocurrency came from a huge economic fraud perpetrated by Wen Jian's employer inside China.

According to the previous report of the domestic police, the case involved 43 billion yuan, and 126,000 investors from 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions were involved.

A turning point in the life of Wen Jian

One day in October 2017, Wen Jian moved into a mansion in Hampstead, north London, for a monthly rent of £17,000, a one-time payment of six months' rent, and an additional £40,000 deposit.

Less than two months ago, Wen Jian, who had been in the UK for 10 years, had just moved to London from Leeds to work in a Chinese takeaway restaurant, living in a room downstairs from the restaurant.

Wen Jian lives in the mansion with a Chinese woman, "Yadi Zhang", who is Wen Jian's employer.

The mansion rented by Wen Jian and "Zhang Yadi".

In mid-September 2017, Wen Jian saw a job for a Chinese assistant in a WeChat group that met the work needs of Chinese people. In the ensuing call, the employer invited Wen Jian for an interview.

At the Royal Garden Hotel, a five-star hotel on London's main shopping street, Wen Jian met "Zhang Yadi" for the first time, and the trajectory of her life changed.

Wen Jian grew up in a Chinese working-class family, and in 2007, at the age of 26, she was pregnant and followed her British husband to the UK on a spouse visa. After the birth of her son, her relationship with her husband broke down, and the two divorced in 2010. She lived a modest life in Leeds, raising her children, during which time she completed a Bachelor of Law and a Bachelor of Economics.

After "Zhang Yadi" became Wen Jian's employer, Wen Jian's resume added an introduction: "live-in PA for a high net worth individual".

Since then, Wen Jian and "Zhang Yadi" have started a "luxurious journey".

"Zhang Yadi" gave Wen Jian a monthly salary of £4,000 in cash, compared to the previous year, Wen Jian's declared annual income was £5,979.

Wen Jian bought a Mercedes E worth £25,000 and sent her son to a preparatory school with a tuition fee of £6,000 per term. It's all after you get your new job.

Ms. Wen recalls that the employer, who is four years her senior, spends about 20 hours a day in bed, playing games, shopping or transacting bitcoins on her laptop.

The simple job involves exchanging the employer's bitcoin for cash and then spending it in bulk.

During her time working for Zhang Yadi, Wen Jian traveled extensively to European countries, including Thailand and Dubai, and Zhang Yadi occasionally traveled together. However, it is worth mentioning that no photo of the two has been found in the information that has been disclosed so far, and "Zhang Yadi" will use pseudonyms such as "Rose", "Emma" and "Hua Hua" to avoid countries that have extradition agreements with China.

Wen Jiantu/British Police

They buy expensive jewellery, two of which have bills showing prices of £25,600 and £18,750, as well as two watches worth £49,300 and £69,900.

Ticket for the purchase of jewellery Photo/British police

Over a three-month period at the end of 2017, Ms. Wen spent more than £90,000 on designer womenswear, jewellery and shoes at Harrods using a loyalty card registered in her name, though she later described herself at the trial, "I was the one carrying the bag." ”

In addition, Wen Jian bought two apartments worth more than £500,000 in Dubai.

Wen Jian even tried to help "Zhang Yadi" buy two other expensive properties in London, one worth £23.5 million and the other worth £12.5 million. It was this act of making a generous move, but not being able to clearly explain the source of the funds, that led to the local anti-money laundering investigation in the UK.

After two searches in October 2018 and August 2020, Wen Jian was arrested by the British police in May 2021 and attended the trial on May 24 this year. She told the court that she had not seen her employer since 25 August 2020.

Mysterious female boss, a fugitive from China

There is a huge secret behind the luxurious life of Wen Jian and "Zhang Yadi".

"Zhang Yadi", a mysterious 45-year-old woman, entered the UK with a fake passport and quickly built a seemingly legitimate jewelry business for herself and Wen Jian.

Disclosed passport of "Zhang Yadi".

However, in fact, according to the trial, "Zhang Yadi" defrauded nearly 130,000 Chinese investors of £5 billion between 2014 and 2017 through fake wealth management projects. She converted the funds into Bitcoin and arrived in London in 2017 under a fake identity.

Wen Jian defended herself, "We have a close relationship...... But looking back now, I was taken advantage of. She admitted that she controlled a bitcoin wallet, but she said she did not know that the bitcoins came from illegal funds or the true identity of "Zhang Yadi". Her lawyer also defended it, saying, "There is no doubt that they were deceived and used." ”

However, the local court did not accept this, and the judge said, "I do not agree with your defense lawyer's characterization of you as a victim." ”

British prosecutors said the transactions were "carried out against the backdrop of a brief warning about the origin of bitcoin". In other words, the prosecution believes that Wen Jian is not ignorant of the origin of these bitcoins.

Wen Jian was eventually convicted of money laundering and faced six years and eight months in prison. However, she has not been charged with fraud.

On April 24 this year, the mysterious "Zhang Yadi" made her first appearance in the Westminster Magistrates' Court in the United Kingdom, and her true identity, Qian Zhimin, was also exposed.

Qian Zhimin is charged with two counts of illegal possession of cryptocurrencies from October 1, 2017 to April 23, 2024, with obtaining, using or possessing criminal property across the United Kingdom. She has denied the charges from British prosecutors, saying she will not plead guilty and will not apply for bail.

At present, Qian Zhimin has been remanded in custody by the district judge and the case has been sent to another criminal court.

At this point, the identity of the mysterious "Zhang Yadi" was completely revealed. However, judging from the current information, it is not clear when Qian Zhimin was arrested in the UK.

According to domestic public reports, Qian Zhimin was the main culprit in the 2017 case of Blue Sky Gree's illegal absorption of public deposits, which the police reported that the funds involved amounted to 43 billion yuan, and 126,000 investors were involved in it, covering 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions.

In March 2014, Qian Zhimin established Tianjin Lantian Gree Electronic Technology Co., Ltd., and launched a variety of financial products in the name of an electronic technology company, including projects related to bitcoin mining, using high interest rates as bait to attract public investment. The investment period of these products ranges from six months to two years, and the yield can reach up to 300%.

Back then, Blue Sky Gree had a slogan: "You give Gree three years, and Gree will give you three lifetimes of wealth." ”

However, in the past three years, Blue Sky Gree has successively absorbed more than 40.2 billion yuan, and three years later, Qian Zhimin took "wealth" and flew away.

According to a statistic in a report by China News Weekly, from August 2014 to July 2017, Blue Sky Gree absorbed a total of more than 40.2 billion yuan, all of which were controlled and controlled by Qian Zhimin. From April 2014 to August 2017, Blue Sky Gree returned more than 34.1 billion yuan to 128409 people, more than 95.68 million yuan for the purchase of jewelry, more than 91.89 million yuan for the purchase of real estate, more than 210 million yuan for daily operating expenses, and more than 120 million yuan for the life ring customer service center project, in addition, it is worth noting that more than 1.14 billion yuan was used to buy bitcoin.

In July 2017, Blue Sky Gree stopped rebates, citing a financial system upgrade. However, this was just an excuse to stabilize investors, and Qian Zhimin converted the funds into bitcoin and soon ran away to the UK.

At present, how to deal with these 61,000 bitcoins has become a matter of more concern.

British prosecutors say they have initiated civil recovery proceedings, and if the British authorities determine that no one else is claiming criminal assets, usually half of the funds will go to the British police and half to the British Home Office.

Domestic Blue Sky Gree investors believe that they have the right to claim the property and hope to recover the relevant funds.

According to the "Interface" report, a staff member of the Hedong Economic Investigation Team of the Tianjin Municipal Public Security Bureau, which handled the domestic Blue Sky Gree non-absorption case, responded that he had learned that Qian Zhimin had been arrested in the UK, and had also reported to the Economic Investigation Corps of the higher department, and the Economic Investigation Corps had also reported to the higher level. The specific implementation action should be carried out by the Ministry of Public Security, which is no longer within the scope of the work of the Hedong Economic Investigation Team.

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