"A woman, said by police to have bought cryptocurrency now worth billions of pounds using funds stolen from thousands of Chinese pensioners, is due to be sentenced this week for money laundering. After fleeing China, she moved to a mansion in Hampstead, north London. The Metropolitan Police raided it a year later and made one of the world's single largest crypto seizures. More than 100,000 Chinese people invested their money in her company - which claimed to be developing high-tech health products and mining cryptocurrency."
"Anything left unclaimed would normally default to the UK government - leading some to speculate that the Treasury could stand to gain from the haul. "If we can gather all the evidence together, we hope the UK government, the Crown Prosecution Service and the High Court can show compassion," said one victim we are calling Mr Yu, who says his marriage failed as a result of the fraud."
Qian Zhimin, 47, is accused of embezzling funds from more than 100,000 Chinese investors who were told her company developed high-tech health products and mined cryptocurrency. After Chinese police investigations began, she arrived in the UK in 2017 using a fake passport and rented a Hampstead mansion at over £17,000 a month. She converted stolen funds into bitcoin and other assets while posing as a wealthy heiress and instructing an assistant to trade the cryptocurrency into cash and property. The Metropolitan Police later raided the property and made one of the largest crypto seizures. Victims hope UK authorities can return some funds; unclaimed assets may default to the UK government.
Read at www.bbc.com
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