According to Odaily, a Chinese national, Qian Zhimin, 42, has been sentenced to over six years in prison by the Southwark Court in London for money laundering. The court found that Qian had attempted to purchase several luxury properties in London, including a seven-bedroom mansion in Hampstead worth £23.5 million and another mansion worth £12.5 million equipped with a private cinema and gym. These extravagant purchases drew the attention of the police.
Investigations revealed that Qian had over 61,000 bitcoins, worth more than £3 billion, in his digital wallet. This is the largest amount of cryptocurrency ever seized in the UK. Currently, there are still 23,300 bitcoins, worth over £1 billion, in circulation. It is reported that these bitcoins originated from an investment fraud case in China that took place from 2014 to 2017, involving £5 billion. The funds were transferred abroad and used to purchase cryptocurrency.
Although Qian was not directly involved in the fraud, he played a 'front desk' role, helping to disguise the source of the laundered funds.