**Chinese Woman Sentenced After £3 Billion Bitcoin Seizure**
Jian Wen, 42, drew police attention when she attempted to purchase some of London’s priciest properties, including a £23.5 million seven-bedroom mansion in Hampstead with a swimming pool and a nearby £12.5 million house featuring a cinema and gym.
This investigation resulted in the UK’s largest-ever cryptocurrency seizure, uncovering over 61,000 Bitcoin in digital wallets. At the time, the cryptocurrency was valued at £1.4 billion, but its worth has now soared to over £3 billion. Additionally, 23,308 Bitcoin, currently valued at more than £1 billion, linked to the investigation, remain in circulation.
The Bitcoin is alleged to have originated from a £5 billion investment scam in China between 2014 and 2017. Although Wen was not implicated in the fraud itself, she reportedly acted as a "front person" to obscure the money’s origins, some of which had been converted to cryptocurrency and smuggled out of China on laptops.
Last month, Wen was convicted of one count of money laundering, involving 150 Bitcoin (currently worth nearly £8 million), for transactions between October 2017 and January 2022, following a retrial at Southwark Crown Court.
Judge Sally-Ann Hales KC sentenced Wen to six years and eight months, stating, "I am in no doubt you came to enjoy the better things in life. The evidence showed you and, to some extent, members of your family were generously rewarded for your