On May 22, local time in the UK, Qian Zhimin appeared in a court in London, UK, and is expected to stand trial in the UK on October 21, 2024. Qian Zhimin is also the main suspect in a case of illegal absorption of public deposits in China, involving more than 40.2 billion yuan.
Traveling around the UK and Europe, Qian Zhimin transformed himself into Yadi Zhang, holding Zhang Yadi's Saint Kitts and Nevis passport, but this new identity did not allow Qian Zhimin to escape.
Zhang Yadi is just one of Qian Zhimin's many identities. Caijing reporters learned that this 46-year-old woman, who claimed to have injured her leg in a car accident around 2015, has multiple identities: In the UK, Qian Zhimin claimed to have been engaged in jewelry trade around the world for more than 20 years. Qian Zhimin obtained a fake Myanmar passport in the name of Nan Yin. When in China, Qian Zhimin was the actual controller of the company involved in the aforementioned illegal fundraising case, namely Tianjin Lantian Gerui Electronic Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Lantian Gerui"). Her real name is hidden behind her, and she calls herself "Huahua" and "Hua Jie" to the outside world. Her nickname in the UK has become "Rose" and so on. In order to cover her face, Qian Zhimin wears a pink veil and a masked ball mask when meeting with investors. On these occasions, she talks about investment and financial management, virtual currency, and creates the image of Lantian Gerui walking at the forefront of technology and investing wisely, conveying to investors that the dream of wealth is within reach, and "Gerui will give you wealth for three generations."
After the collapse of BlueSky Green, Qian Zhimin disappeared. According to the Chinese judicial system, the amount involved in BlueSky Green's illegal fundraising case was 40.2 billion yuan, and many of Qian Zhimin's accomplices were sentenced. Qian Zhimin hid in a luxury house in the UK with a monthly rent of 17,000 pounds.
When the Chinese police issued a red notice for Qian Zhimin and launched a global manhunt, Qian Zhimin took another risk - trying to convert Bitcoin into cash and trying to convert Bitcoin into funds and transfer it to bank accounts to buy high-value properties in the UK and other places. This process was carried out by Jian Wen, a former Chinese takeaway store employee, who acted as a "front desk" or assistant.
When buying a house in the UK, the purchase behavior caused an investigation by the London police because they could not explain the true source of funds. When searching the residence shared by Wen Jian and Qian Zhimin, the London police seized multiple electronic devices. After investigation and tracking, they found multiple digital wallets, so they seized more than 61,000 bitcoins. At the end of May 2024, the price of one bitcoin exceeded $70,000. By this calculation, the seized bitcoins are worth more than 3 billion pounds.
On May 24, local time in the UK, Wen Jian was sentenced to 80 months in prison by a British court for participating in money laundering crimes. Wen Jian's verdict mentioned that the case was related to a large-scale investment fraud carried out in China from 2014 to 2017, involving more than 40 billion yuan and 128,000 investors. Part of the proceeds from this investment fraud were converted into Bitcoin, put into cryptocurrency wallets, and smuggled out of China on laptops.
When Wen Jian was arrested, Qian Zhimin disappeared again, but was recently brought back to justice. According to media reports, Qian Zhimin was detained after returning to London in April this year and was accused of obtaining, using or possessing cryptocurrency as criminal property in London and other places in the UK. He is currently charged with two counts of illegal possession of cryptocurrency.
On May 16, 2024, the Hedong Branch of the Tianjin Municipal Public Security Bureau issued a notice stating that it would continue to carry out international fugitive pursuit and asset recovery cooperation with law enforcement agencies of the United Kingdom and other countries through international law enforcement cooperation channels.
“She really bought us Bitcoin?”
"That's Qian Zhimin!" Xu Jing (pseudonym) asserted this when she noticed Zhang Yadi's portrait in the report on the Wen Jian case in March 2024. Xu Jing had previously invested in Lantian Green's financial products, but the investment money was never returned. After Lantian Green collapsed, she and some investors communicated with relevant departments and learned the true identity of "Huahua".
Xu Jing, who has retired, invested in seven financial products of Blue Sky Green, some of which are related to Bitcoin. Blue Sky Green was established in March 2014. Its public business scope is electronic product research and development, network technology product technology development and consulting services. It has no qualifications to sell financial products, but the company has designed 10 financial products.
Since the mysterious birth of Bitcoin in 2009, it has become a disruptive digital currency due to its decentralization, anonymity, scarcity, online transactions and payments, and low-cost and fast cross-border payments. In 2013, the year before BlueSky was founded, Bitcoin entered the eyes of more Chinese people. At the end of 2013, Chinese buyers drove up the price of Bitcoin, and the price of Bitcoin broke through 1,000 US dollars from a few hundred US dollars that year.
In December 2013, in order to prevent money laundering risks and maintain financial stability, the People's Bank of China and other departments issued the "Notice on Preventing Bitcoin Risks", which clearly stated that Bitcoin is not a real currency and cannot and should not be circulated in the market as legal tender. At the same time, it clearly stated that financial institutions and payment institutions shall not use Bitcoin to price products or services, shall not underwrite insurance business related to Bitcoin, or include Bitcoin in the scope of insurance liability.
After the establishment of Blue Sky Green, it quickly caught up with the craze of virtual currencies such as Bitcoin. Blue Sky Green's British Aisheng Insurance Digital One (hereinafter referred to as "Digital Insurance One"), each order is three bitcoins, with a total price of 24,000 yuan. During the two-year subscription period, you can enjoy a daily income of 0.3‰ of the subscription amount, and you can receive a capital income of 24,000 yuan in two years. At the same time, after the two-year period expires, you will be given a valuable asset package worth 36,000 yuan, which can be immediately redeemed for virtual digital currencies such as Bitcoin and Dotcoin. When the product was promoted, it was claimed that digital currency has great appreciation potential, and professional butler services and social collaboration are particularly important. British Aisheng Insurance Co., Ltd. is the only insurance company in the world that provides property insurance for digital currency, and its address is located in the British Cayman Islands. Xu Jing bought ten copies, which means she subscribed to 30 bitcoins.
Zheng Jian (pseudonym) and his wife, who are in Chongqing, also bought Digital Insurance No. 1 and subscribed for more than 10 bitcoins. Zheng Jian told Caijing reporters that Qian Zhimin and his subordinate sales said that older investors were not familiar with bitcoin operations and would list their bitcoins under BlueSky Green to ensure high returns.
Zheng Jian, 59, said that he and his wife started investing in Lantian Green products in 2016 after being introduced by a classmate. Lantian Green's products closely follow the investment hotspots. For example, Lantian Green claims to have independently developed the first intelligent wearable device "Life Ring", has a supercomputer for mining Bitcoin, and the company's legal representative was named the most honest entrepreneur, which made Zheng Jian and many middle-aged and elderly investors believe that the company is very powerful. In order to attract investors, Lantian Green organized meetings and inspections, and also launched the slogan "Give Green three years, Green will give you three generations of wealth."
It is understood that Blue Sky Green also organized a small number of investors to visit and travel in the UK, and claimed that a branch of Blue Sky Green was registered in the UK.
After the initial income from the financial products arrived, Zheng Jian and his wife gradually fell into Lantian Green's multiple investment products. For example, in the Bitcoin project, a policy is 24,000 yuan, and the daily appreciation is 0.3‰ per working day. Zheng Jian can receive 72 yuan in dividends every working day. In this way, Zheng Jian and his wife gradually increased their investment, and some of it was borrowed funds.
Li Min (pseudonym) in Tianjin also suffered from the pain of investing in BlueSky Green. In 2015, Li Min was looking for a house to buy and had a sum of money in hand, but he could not resist the persuasion of his classmates and began to invest in BlueSky Green's products. Li Min admitted that he was in his 50s at the time and his children needed money, so he hoped that investing could "take a chance" and "earn some money."
Li Min purchased 4 financial products, 10 of which were related to Bitcoin. The salesperson persuaded her to "buy 5 and get 1 free". Li Min bought 5 products twice, spending a total of 240,000 yuan, which means that Li Min subscribed to more than 30 Bitcoins. On May 21, 2024, the price of Bitcoin exceeded the $70,000 (about 500,000 yuan) mark for the first time.
In the spring of 2017, Li Min went to Jiangsu Province to attend a promotional event for BlueSky Green. Li Min recalled that it was the only time she saw "Huahua". Huahua was slightly fat and wore a yellow masquerade mask when she spoke on stage. She mentioned that BlueSky Green had sold part of the bitcoins it had purchased, "making money", and asked investors to rest assured that the bitcoins they would buy later would also appreciate in value.
After the Blue Sky Green case, investors' dreams of wealth were shattered. Zheng Jian, who claimed to have lost millions of yuan, recalled the financial difficulties he had faced seven or eight years before and after the case, and the truth about Blue Sky Green that gradually emerged, and lamented that it was like "a dream."
Many of the people sucked into the investment black hole of BlueSky Green are elderly people. For a long time, Wang Chen (pseudonym) did not know the specific amount of investment of his parents-in-law in BlueSky Green. Wang Chen said that after his parents-in-law suffered losses in their investment, they did not dare to tell their family members. They gradually revealed some information from 2023. The loss was the savings of two generations of the family, but the elderly believed some rumors and did not even dare to call the police.
Wang Chen said that the elderly in his family had visited the BlueSky Green "mine" on site. The equipment on site was neat and tidy, and it was claimed that all the computers were supercomputers that could mine coins quickly. Because the investment amount was large, the elderly had the opportunity to meet "Huahua", who claimed to be a doctor from a prestigious university, had rich experience in financial risk management, and talked about the company's future and prospects.
Recently, Wang Chen has been sorting out relevant information and looking for ways to claim her rights. She asked the reporter from Caijing, "Did she (Qian Zhimin) really buy Bitcoin for us?"
Crazy money-making past
The good times did not last long. In July 2017, Zheng Jian and others found that the profits were no longer being credited to their accounts. Lantian Green stopped returning the money, claiming that the relevant departments were rectifying the situation. In fact, on April 21, 2017, the Hedong Branch of the Tianjin Public Security Bureau opened an investigation into Lantian Green for suspected illegal absorption of public deposits.
But the BlueSky Green platform is like a giant ship, and the sales at each level did not "brake" immediately. According to the judicial verdict related to BlueSky Green, in April 2017, in Hua County, Henan Province, a defendant established a Bitcoin community in the process of developing investors, and in May and June of that year, he still organized product promotion meetings to promote BlueSky Green's "Carnival", "Digital Insurance No. 1", "Digital Insurance No. 2", "Smart Merchants", "Life Ring Merchants" and other entrusted financial products, share investment income experience, and promote the promise of zero risk and high return interest.
In June 2019, the Hedong Branch of the Tianjin Municipal Public Security Bureau reported that since the case of Lantian Green was filed for investigation on suspicion of illegally absorbing public deposits, the public security organs have stepped up their efforts to organize and carry out case investigation. As of now, a total of 50 criminal suspects including the company's legal representative Ren Jiangtao have been arrested, of which 28 have been transferred for review and prosecution.
Since 2019, the relevant persons involved in the Lantian Green case have been sentenced after trial. The judicial authorities found that Lantian Green was registered by Qian Zhimin in the name of another person, and in June 2014, Qian Zhimin changed the legal representative of the company to Ren Jiangtao. Lantian Green is actually controlled by Qian Zhimin and has no qualifications as a banking financial institution.
Multiple judicial documents in the Blue Sky Green series of cases have confirmed that Qian Zhimin recruited Ren Jiangtao and others, and launched ten financial products across the country in the name of Blue Sky Green Company, including "Blue Sky No. 1", "Blue Sky No. 2", "Youli Coin", "Life Ring Customer Service Center Investment Plan", and "Smart Service System Investment Plan". They used promises of repayment of principal and interest and high returns as bait, and promoted the products to the public through holding financial product promotion conferences, distributing promotional materials, and word of mouth among investors, and signed financial product investment agreements with the general public to absorb funds.
It is reported that Blue Sky Green's financial products include Life Ring, anti-smog purifier, purifier, Bitcoin, etc., and the numerous products are only to attract more customers. Taking Life Ring as an example, Caijing reporter learned from the sentenced Blue Sky Green's main offender case that a witness mentioned that Blue Sky Green has established more than 200 Life Ring stores across the country, and almost every customer center loses 7 million yuan per month. Despite the losses, it still expands its stores, and ultimately sells financial products.
Many of BlueSky Green's products contain virtual currencies such as Bitcoin. For example, the "Digital No. 2" project requires an investment of 38,000 yuan per share, with an increase of 110 yuan per day. The contract period is 24 months, and a 38,000 yuan digital asset package will be given after the contract expires. The digital asset package includes Bitcoin, Bitcoin, and Litecoin. The brochure states that "the total profit in two years is about 96,000 yuan!"
According to judicial determination, from April 2014 to August 2017, a total of more than 40.228 billion yuan of funds were illegally absorbed, all of which were controlled by Qian Zhimin. Among them, more than 34.118 billion yuan was used to return funds to more than 128,000 fund-raising participants, more than 336.7 million yuan was used for the company's daily expenses and project operations, and the rest of the money was used to purchase real estate, jewelry, cars, etc. After the incident, the public security organs made every effort to recover the stolen money and froze and seized a batch of funds, real estate, vehicles and other assets involved in the case in accordance with the law, freezing 1.8 billion yuan of funds involved in the case, seizing more than 500 million yuan in cash, seizing jewelry, gold bars, motor vehicles and other items, and sealing related real estate.
In September 2021, Ren Jiangtao, the legal representative of Blue Sky Green, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for illegally absorbing public deposits. After the incident, Ren Jiangtao said that he met Qian Zhimin through online games. Because he completely obeyed Qian Zhimin's command in the game, Qian Zhimin asked him to serve as the legal representative of Blue Sky Green, "but in fact it was just a figurehead." In order to increase the popularity of Blue Sky Green, the company bought it the title of China's business integrity leader. Blue Sky Green mainly attracts deposits by selling financial products. Only Qian Zhimin has the right to control the funds attracted. Qian Zhimin also asked him to borrow bank cards from other people to receive the absorbing funds.
In Ren Jiangtao's confession, he and Qian Zhimin verbally agreed that if he worked for three years, Qian Zhimin would give him 1 million yuan, and also agreed on a monthly salary of 30,000 yuan. However, in reality, he only received between 12,000 yuan and 15,000 yuan per month, and he stopped receiving the salary after more than a year.
Lantian Green did mine Bitcoin. Ren Jiangtao confessed that the business Qian Zhimin assigned to the company included "mining". Ren Jiangtao was responsible for maintaining the "mining farm" and mining machines. The mining machines in the "mining farm" initially mined Bitcoin, but later the machines became outdated and mined another virtual currency, Dotcoin. The virtual currency mined was transferred to Qian Zhimin from time to time.
Another person who was in charge of the "mine" confirmed that in June 2014, he was in a factory in Nansha District, Guangzhou. There were about 1,000 mining machines in the factory. After debugging, they started running in July. The mining machines were running until March 2015, when they were taken away by people sent by Ren Jiangtao. Soon after, a batch of old mining machines were brought in, but the later mining machines have not been used. There is also a Lantian Green mine in Beichen District, Tianjin. They all said that they did not know how many bitcoins were mined.
According to the audit of the illegal fund-raising case of BlueSky Green, BlueSky Green used 1.14 billion yuan to buy Bitcoin. Caijing reporters checked the public Bitcoin transaction prices and found that the price of one Bitcoin fluctuated between $310 and $3,000 from April 2014 to July 2017. Caijing reporters also learned that a small amount of the 61,000 Bitcoins seized by the UK came from "mining", and most of them were obtained through transactions.
The mysterious "Huahua"'s cross-border adventure
After the Lan Tiange Rui case, "Huahua" Qian Zhimin fled.
Qian Zhimin had planned to flee. Relevant Chinese judicial documents show that Qian Zhimin and Zhao Linfeng had known each other since April 2014 and became lovers. In February 2017, Qian Zhimin asked Zhao Linfeng to find a way to help him sneak across the border, and Qian Zhimin fled across the border with Zhao Linfeng's help.
The British judicial documents in the Wen Jian case show that after leaving China, Qian Zhimin obtained a fake Burmese passport in the name of Nan Yin. On September 16, 2017, when Qian Zhimin entered the UK, he held Zhang Yadi's passport of the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis, who had just become a citizen of the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis on June 17, 2017. The holder of this passport enjoys visa-free or visa-on-arrival treatment in more than 150 countries and regions including the UK and Canada, and can obtain citizenship by investing at least US$150,000.
Ren Jiangtao and his girlfriend, who also worked at BlueSky Green, also tried to flee. On November 1, 2017, they were arrested in Vientiane, Laos. A person close to the case of Ren Jiangtao and his girlfriend told Caixin that the two claimed that the company arranged their overseas travel.
Ren Jiangtao also mentioned in his testimony that when "Hua Hua" agreed to let him be the legal representative, he also stated that if anything happened to the company and he needed to take responsibility, "Hua Hua" would find a way to "save" him.
In 2016, Qian Zhimin was accused of "fishing" Wu Xiaolong, the then general manager of Lantian Green. Relevant judicial documents show that in August 2016, when Wu Xiaolong, then general manager of Lantian Green, and others were promoted to absorb deposits, they were taken away by relevant departments of Linghai City, Liaoning Province for investigation on suspicion of illegally absorbing public deposits. Fan from Lantian Green Company found Huo Jian, then deputy secretary and deputy manager of Linghai Water Company, for help and promised to give a huge reward. Huo Jian then repeatedly asked Zhang Lie, then deputy captain of the Economic Investigation Brigade of Linghai Public Security Bureau. Subsequently, Wu Xiaolong was released on bail pending trial. In this incident, Huo Jian received more than 6.69 million yuan in benefits and Zhang Lie received 8.3 million yuan in benefits. In April 2023, Huo Jian and Zhang Lie were sentenced respectively. After the Lantian Green case broke out in 2017, Wu Xiaolong was arrested again for illegally absorbing public deposits and was sentenced in November 2022.
At BlueSky Green, "Huahua" created a low-key and mysterious image. Many BlueSky Green managers said they did not know the real identity of "Huahua", and some even mentioned that "the superior of the company chairman is a woman named Huahua".
Several investors told Caijing reporters that after Huahua fled, many investors gradually learned of Huahua's true identity. Huahua's real name is Qian Zhimin, 46 years old, from Jiangsu, and of ordinary origin. Previously, at the promotion meeting where Huahua appeared, Huahua wore a mask and face shield, and investors were not allowed to bring mobile phones into the venue and had to go through security checks. Huahua claimed that he graduated from a prestigious university, had two doctorates, and understood financial risk control. Others said that when Huahua taught investment and financial management classes, he was eloquent and made the listeners "excited". The partners of Blue Sky Green products said that Huahua was very mysterious, often changed WeChat, and could never be contacted.
"Huahua" fled and entered the UK on September 16, 2017, and transformed into Zhang Yadi, who was born in 1990. Less than a week after arriving in the UK, he established contact with Wen Jian, who previously worked in a Chinese takeaway restaurant.
Wen Jian, 42, is from China. She moved to the UK with her British husband. From 2011 to August 2017, after their divorce, she rented houses in several places in Leeds, the third largest city in the UK. In May 2017, Wen Jian was still looking for job opportunities in Leeds and a town in South Yorkshire. In the summer of 2017, Wen Jian moved to London and initially lived in the basement under a restaurant. Soon, the moment of change came for Wen Jian's situation.
There is no way to trace how Wen Jian and Zhang Yadi, who is actually Qian Zhimin, established contact or met for the first time. Caijing reporter learned from the relevant materials of Wen Jian's case that on September 21, 2017, Wen Jian sent an email in the identity of "Hua Hua"'s personal assistant to find a house to rent, and said that the tenants included Hua Hua, her boyfriend and herself. Wen Jian introduced that "Hua Hua" is a successful jeweler engaged in the trade of diamonds, antiques, etc., with business in Japan, Thailand, China, etc., and this time he hopes to expand his business in the UK and Switzerland. Hua Hua's boyfriend may not come because of other business arrangements.
In October 2017, Wen Jian and Hua Hua moved into a six-bedroom mansion worth nearly 5 million pounds (about 40 million yuan) in Hampstead, a wealthy area in northwest London, with a monthly rent of more than 17,000 pounds. The lease agreement shows that Wen Jian and Hua Hua are co-tenants.
A year later, on October 31, 2018, the luxury house rented by Wen Jian and "Hua Hua" in Hampstead was searched for the first time by the London police. When Wen Jian tried to buy a property worth tens of millions of pounds with Bitcoin and could not prove the source of the Bitcoin, the London police launched an anti-money laundering investigation. When the London police raided the house, "Hua Hua" was lying in an upstairs bedroom. Wen Jian explained to the police that "Hua Hua" had injured her leg in an accident and could not go downstairs, and she was "Hua Hua"'s caregiver and translator.
In August 2020, British police searched the Hampstead mansion again. This time, Qian Zhimin was not present and his whereabouts were unknown.
Bitcoin money laundering case
After getting acquainted with "Hua Hua", Wen Jian's life changed, but it also came with corresponding risks.
From 2016 to 2020, Wen Jian's income declared to the British tax authorities showed that in 2016, Wen Jian's income did not exceed 6,000 pounds, he had no income in 2017, and had no employment record in 2018. But after Wen Jian and Qian Zhimin rented a house together, their lives changed a lot.
On September 24, 2017, a woman named "YA Zhang" opened a membership account at Harrods, a luxury department store in London. The next month, the account information was changed to Wen Jian. When the membership account was opened for about three months, the purchase of multiple pieces of women's branded clothing and shoes had cost 92,000 pounds. In January 2018, Wen Jian bought a Mercedes-Benz car for more than 24,000 pounds. Afterwards, Wen Jian frequently traveled abroad alone or with "Hua Hua". When Wen Jian and "Hua Hua" left the UK together, they would avoid countries that had signed extradition treaties with China. Wen Jian also exchanged small amounts of Bitcoin in other countries outside the UK and contacted others to explore cryptocurrency trading methods.
Trying to use Bitcoin to buy high-value properties in London is one way that Wen Jian and "Hua Hua" tried to deal with Bitcoin. In November 2017, Wen Jian found a real estate agent in London to look for available properties. To buy a house in the UK, you need to hire a lawyer to assist in the transaction process. The buyer must deposit the house price into the account designated by the law firm. The lawyer hired by the buyer will conduct identity verification and anti-money laundering fund source investigation on the buyer in accordance with relevant anti-money laundering regulations.
Through the relevant information of Wen Jian's case, Caijing reporter learned that in February 2018, Huahua was attracted by a luxury house worth 23.5 million pounds. Wen Jian came forward to communicate with real estate agents and lawyers and carry out the house purchase process. Wen Jian was introduced to a company that can convert Bitcoin into legal currency, and can get a report as the source of funds to provide to the lawyer. Subsequently, some Bitcoins were transferred to the company as a "transaction test" in exchange for pounds, and then the funds were transferred to the designated account of the law firm. Soon, some Bitcoins were converted into pounds after this operation and transferred to the designated account of the law firm. These two funds, about 850,000 pounds, are the deposit required to purchase the property. During this process, the lawyer repeatedly asked about the source of funds. Soon, because the seller proposed to increase the price, the purchase of the house was not continued.
The determination to buy a house was not hindered. Wen Jian and "Hua Hua" turned to try to buy another property in London worth 12.5 million pounds. During this period, how to convert a large amount of Bitcoin into legal currency remained a major problem. On January 31, 2018, a strict new policy, the Unexplained Wealth Order, came into effect in the UK, aiming to make the target person disclose wealth from unknown sources and effectively combat economic crimes. The lawyer sent the relevant content of the Unexplained Wealth Order to Wen Jian and said that further information on the source of assets may be required to purchase the property. In response, Wen Jian explained that the Bitcoin was "mined by Ms. Zhang" and she was unlikely to provide proof, as Bitcoin was not valuable at the time. After seeking expert advice, the lawyer asked Wen Jian to provide the Bitcoin wallet address in order to verify whether those Bitcoins were generated by "mining". Subsequently, Wen Jian was asked to provide detailed information about "Hua Hua".
As these problems were not resolved, Wen Jian stopped buying a house in the UK and then turned his attention to buying houses outside the UK. In Dubai, Wen Jian bought two apartments on behalf of his family, which were then traded again soon after.
In October 2018, the London police contacted Wen Jian via email, informing her that the funds previously transferred to the law firm's designated account had been frozen, and stated that the source of the money might be related to crime. Wen Jian never responded to this email. In May 2021, Wen Jian was arrested and subsequently prosecuted by the British Crown Prosecution Service. The materials provided to the court by the British Crown Prosecution Service mentioned the Chinese investment fraud case involving the money laundering funds in the case, and the company involved was Blue Sky Green.
During the trial of Wen Jian's case, the defense believed that Wen Jian was not aware that the bitcoins involved were proceeds of crime, and that Wen Jian regretted very much being involved with Zhang Yadi. If it were not for Zhang Yadi, Wen Jian would not have been involved.
On May 24, local time in the UK, Wen Jian was sentenced to 80 months in prison for participating in money laundering. According to the verdict of the Wen Jian case obtained by Caijing reporters, although the prosecutors had previously filed multiple charges against Wen Jian, the judge determined that Wen Jian participated in money laundering of 150 bitcoins. This is a digital wallet that Wen Jian keeps and controls, with 150 bitcoins deposited into the account. Wen Jian converted some of the bitcoins into cash, most of which were laundered through Dubai and Switzerland, and the remaining 33.89 bitcoins were seized by the police. The verdict also mentioned that there was no evidence that Wen Jian was related to the investment fraud case in China.
The British criminal trial for Bitcoin money laundering has not yet ended. On May 22, Qian Zhimin, also known as Zhang Yadi, appeared in a British court. This time, another defendant appeared in court with Qian Zhimin, named Senghok Ling. This person's information is currently unknown. It is reported that the court has scheduled Qian Zhimin's trial on October 21.
How to recover stolen money across borders
After paying attention to Qian Zhimin, the person behind Wen Jian's money laundering, and the financial connection with the Chinese crime case, investors such as Xu Jing and Zheng Jian who suffered financial losses regained hope. However, the bitcoins involved in the case were seized in the UK. Whether they can be recovered across borders and how to recover them are the key issues at present.
According to media reports, the British Crown Prosecution Service has filed a civil recovery procedure with the British High Court for the assets seized by the British side. If it is confirmed that there are no other legal rights holders, these assets will be formally confiscated. To decide how to deal with the proceeds of crime.
In April 2024, after hearing the news, Xu Jing and some investors found the contact email of the British court hearing the Wen Jian case and took the initiative to write a letter to claim their rights. Xu Jing introduced that the investors stated in the letter that they were the rights holders of the Bitcoin and assets involved in the Wen Jian and Qian Zhimin cases, and hoped that the British court and other relevant departments would provide investors with a way to declare and recover their losses. Two days after the letter was sent, the British court replied that the letter had been forwarded to the Proceeds of Crime Investigation Department of the British Crown Prosecution Service.
On May 16, the Hedong Branch of the Tianjin Municipal Public Security Bureau issued a case report stating that since it filed an investigation into Tianjin Lantian Green Electronic Technology Co., Ltd. for suspected illegal absorption of public deposits, it has stepped up its efforts to organize and carry out various tasks. In February 2018, the Tianjin Municipal Public Security Bureau issued a red notice for the main criminal suspect Qian Zhimin through Interpol, launched a global manhunt, and continued to cooperate with relevant law enforcement departments in the United Kingdom and other countries in international pursuit and recovery of stolen assets through international law enforcement cooperation channels.
In the Blue Sky Green series of cases, Chinese law enforcement agencies have made every effort to recover the stolen money. A batch of assets involved in the case have been frozen and seized in accordance with the law, and the work of recovering stolen money and recovering losses has been put on the agenda. Previously, the Blue Sky Green case liquidation working group registered the information of fund-raising participants nationwide. An investor told Caixin reporters that he has received two notices of liquidation refunds so far, which is a small part of the amount of his losses.
Regarding the liquidation of the case, on May 16, a reporter from Caijing called the telephone number previously released by the Tianjin Lantian Ge Rui Case Liquidation Working Group. A member of the working group asked investors to "wait patiently."
Huang Feng, professor at the Institute of Criminal Law Science of Beijing Normal University and expert on international pursuit and recovery of fugitives and stolen assets, analyzed to Caijing reporters that in order to increase the recovery of criminal proceeds, the Proceeds of Crime (Recovery) Act promulgated by the United Kingdom introduced two recovery mechanisms, namely the criminal confiscation system targeting criminal proceeds and the civil recovery targeting illegal proceeds. The civil recovery procedure is essentially a lawsuit against property, recovering specific property, including proceeds obtained through illegal acts and property prepared for illegal acts. Civil recovery has no direct connection with criminal proceedings. Regardless of whether criminal proceedings are filed against crimes related to illegal proceeds, civil recovery of illegal proceeds can be carried out independently.
Huang Feng said that according to relevant public information, the amount of Bitcoin money laundering involved in the Wen Jian case identified in the criminal prosecution accounted for a relatively small proportion of the total Bitcoin seized, and the UK has initiated a civil recovery procedure. According to the corresponding procedures, the legal owner of the property involved has the right to apply for rights after the civil recovery procedure begins. If the judge finds that the property meets the conditions, the property should be excluded from the scope of "recoverable property". Therefore, investors in the Blue Sky Green case can claim their rights in the UK and recover their losses through civil procedures.
At the same time, Huang Feng pointed out that with Qian Zhimin's recent return to justice and the initiation of criminal prosecution against him, the Bitcoin and other assets involved in the case can also be recovered through criminal confiscation. Which method to choose remains to be further clarified. If the recovery is through criminal confiscation, China and the UK can cooperate in the field of criminal judicial assistance. According to the Treaty on Criminal Judicial Assistance between the People's Republic of China and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the requested party holding confiscated assets may return or share the assets or the proceeds of the sale of the assets with the requesting party within the scope permitted by its laws. The conditions for returning or sharing the assets and the proportion of return and sharing shall be agreed upon by both parties.
It is understood that some investors hope that relevant Chinese authorities can communicate with the British side through judicial assistance and other channels. Some investors are also contacting lawyers with experience in cross-border claims recovery to discuss possible ways to recover losses through civil procedures. Zheng Jian and other investors hope to try their best to recover or reduce losses through the best channels.
Attorney Zhao Qizhi of Jiren Law Firm, whose team focuses on foreign-related dispute resolution, told Caixin that his team is working closely with third-party funding funds, well-known British law firms, Queen's Counsel and cryptocurrency experts to seek possible civil or criminal recovery in the UK to help victims achieve recovery. Zhao Qizhi's team has received a response from the Economic Crime Division of the British Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) regarding the recovery of assets involved in the case.
Zhao Qizhi revealed that the CPS said in its reply that it has learned that a considerable number of people in China have become victims of the initial case and they are trying to recover their losses. In the current criminal proceedings, Jian Wen was found guilty of one crime of money laundering, and the confiscation procedure will be carried out after sentencing, but only for this crime. Other suspects have been prosecuted and criminal proceedings are ongoing. CPS will not discuss the case until the results of the criminal trial are announced. In view of these developments, CPS is considering its position in the civil recovery investigation, which is still ongoing, so CPS will not respond to further information until the case is concluded. Its team members have also consulted CPS on the connection between civil recovery and criminal confiscation of Bitcoin. CPS stated that if some or all of the assets are recovered through civil recovery procedures, whether the UK side will share the funds recovered in the UK will be considered in the usual way.
At present, in response to the cross-border recovery of 61,000 bitcoins, Ding Jie, director of the Cross-Border Dispute Resolution Committee of Duan & Duan Law Firm, and his team have held a preliminary meeting with the stakeholders and victims of the Blue Sky Green case to discuss the cross-border recovery plan and strategy for the Blue Sky Green case. Ding Jie and his team previously represented Chinese victims in the cross-border bankruptcy case of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX.
Ding Jie told Caijing that his team has represented some of BlueSky Green’s clients, providing them with preliminary public interest legal advice, and is continuing to follow up on BlueSky Green’s cross-border recovery process. Recently, they have communicated and discussed with several British law firms to promote the specific implementation of BlueSky Green’s cross-border recovery plan. In order to solve the cost of cross-border recovery, his team is contacting international litigation financing institutions to consider whether to introduce internationally popular litigation financing.
The road to cross-border claims still faces many challenges. "Both Chinese and British lawyers agree that this case is of historic significance," said Ding Jie.
