"As Chinese police closed in on the architect of a massive Ponzi scheme that cost thousands their life savings, a woman in her mid-40s, with an accomplice, fled on a moped to Myanmar's border, starting nearly seven years on the run. After zig-zagging across Southeast Asia, she landed at London's Heathrow airport in September 2017 on a forged St Kitts and Nevis passport in the name of Zhang Yadi."
"Until her arrest in April 2024, Zhang whose real name was Qian Zhimin converted bitcoin into cash to buy jewellery and luxury goods, travelling with an assistant across Europe while avoiding countries that extradite to China. Before and during Qian's sentencing this week, prosecutors and police cited documents collected during their investigation, plus information from Chinese authorities, that provide some insight into Qian's life and criminality."
"Shortly after her arrival in Britain, she sent an accomplice to Thailand to collect a laptop which contained part of the 70,000 bitcoin, then worth roughly 305 million ($410 million), that she had taken upon fleeing China. Qian also tried to purchase a villa in Tuscany and high-end London properties to launder the proceeds of her fraud, but it was a 2018 attempt to buy a house that put her on the radar of British police, prosecutors said."
Qian Zhimin fled China in 2017 on a forged St Kitts and Nevis passport under the name Zhang Yadi after escaping a collapsing Ponzi scheme. She and an accomplice traveled across Southeast Asia and Europe, converting around 70,000 bitcoin into cash to buy jewellery, luxury goods and attempt property purchases in Tuscany and London to launder proceeds. A 2018 house-buying attempt drew British police attention. A laptop recovered from Thailand contained part of the bitcoin stash. Police arrested Qian in April 2024; she was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court to 11 years and eight months for laundering fraud proceeds.
Read at www.independent.co.uk
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