Qian Zhimin, the 'cryptoqueen' fraudster who fled China for London luxury

SINGAPORE: Qian Zhimin wanted a glamorous lifestyle. She travelled across Europe, yearned to be acquainted with royalty and even dreamed of becoming the ruler of a self-proclaimed micronation.

After cheating thousands out of their life savings, she converted her ill-gotten gains into cryptocurrency and, for years, evaded capture across Europe under false identities.

But her double life came crashing down in 2024 when police traced digital clues that led them straight to her home in the northern English city of York.

On Tuesday (Nov 11), a UK court sentenced the 47-year-old Chinese national to 11 years and eight months in jail for money laundering.

Here's how Qian spun her web of lies, how she came to possess 61,000 bitcoins - currently worth £5 billion (US$6.6 billion) - and how the law finally caught up with her.

INVESTMENT FRAUD

Qian’s criminal empire began in China, where she and several Chinese accomplices launched a Ponzi scheme through a company called Lantian Gerui in 2014. Investors were promised returns of up to 300 per cent.

Between 2014 and 2017, an estimated 128,000 people handed over £4.6 billion, comprising life savings and pensions.

According to court documents, while some funds were returned to maintain the facade, a sizeable amount was siphoned off by Qian and her co-conspirators, many of whom have been prosecuted and convicted in China. She converted around £20.2 million of the funds into cash, jewellery and bitcoin.

In 2014, using the name of one of her associates, Qian opened an account at the Huobi cryptocurrency exchange in China and transferred investor funds into that account in exchange for bitcoin. Additional investor monies were used to buy bitcoin in over-the-counter transactions.

By the time the Chinese police began investigating, more than 70,000 bitcoins had been transferred into a cryptocurrency wallet on a laptop.

LIFE IN LONDON

Qian then fled to the UK in 2017 with a forged St Kitts and Nevis passport in the name of Zhang Yadi. Her laptop was collected by accomplice Wen Jian in Thailand the same year.

Qian rented a manor house in Hampstead - an affluent north London neighbourhood - where the pair lived. Over the months, Qian spent lavishly and travelled widely, often accompanied by Wen, but avoided countries with extradition treaties with China.

They tried to buy London properties valued at £4.5 million, £23.5 million and £12.5 million, but money-laundering safeguards repeatedly stalled their purchases. 

In October 2018, the UK police became aware of Qian, posing as Zhang, after an attempt to buy a house. In the same month, they raided Qian’s Hampstead manor house but were not aware of her true identity.

A subsequent search of a safety deposit box led to the discovery of one laptop smuggled out of China containing 4,741.36 bitcoin, then worth £25.2 million. 

Investigators also found notes in which she wrote of ambitions to "meet a duke" and "become queen of Liberland", a self-proclaimed micronation on disputed land between Croatia and Serbia.

ON THE RUN

Though many of her assets had been seized, Qian managed to evade the police for five years. She continued laundering the cryptocurrency that remained accessible to her.

Meanwhile, Wen visited St Kitts and Nevis to explore investments there. She had also travelled to Dubai, where she eventually succeeded in purchasing two properties, which were immediately rented out and sold within a year.

Wen was arrested in 2022 and convicted of money laundering last year, and sentenced to nearly six years and eight months in jail.

ARREST AND CONVICTION

Qian then found a new accomplice, 47-year-old Malaysian national Ling Seng Hok. He converted bitcoin into cash, rented properties and hired staff, whose contracts doubled their wages if they were detained or deported. He also tried to acquire a forged Malaysian or Hong Kong passport for her, using a photo of the late Hong Kong actress Lydia Sum.

The police's surveillance of Ling eventually led to their arrests.

What ended Qian's run was a small bitcoin transaction. When a dormant wallet linked to her moved 8.2 bitcoins to an account under Ling’s name in February 2024, investigators at London’s Metropolitan Police followed the digital trail.

Two months later, they arrested both suspects: Qian in York and Ling in Leeds. Qian had employed four foreign nationals to cater to her everyday needs and they were contractually bound to keep her identity and whereabouts hidden.

Police seized four cryptocurrency wallets worth over £62 million, two false passports and a large quantity of cash.

At sentencing, Judge Sally-Ann Hales called Qian the architect of the crimes from start to finish. 

"Your motive was one of pure greed," she told her. "You left China without a thought for the people whose investments you had stolen and enjoyed for a period of time a lavish lifestyle."

The police would eventually recover over 61,000 bitcoins from Qian, currently worth around £5 billion. Civil recovery proceedings against the bitcoin are ongoing.