A money laundering case involving $6.3 billion was recently exposed and is known as the world's largest money laundering case. Behind this case, there is a mysterious Chinese who has always been at large.
1. The largest money laundering case exposed
On March 18, the British court made a ruling.
The court found a Chinese woman guilty of money laundering and will sentence her on May 10.
According to police, more than 61,000 bitcoins worth about 3.4 billion pounds were seized from the Chinese woman during the investigation.
Converted into US dollars, it is approximately equal to 4.3 billion, and converted into RMB, it is as much as 31 billion.
The funds involved in the money laundering crime are at least 6.3 billion US dollars.
Some media believe that this is not only the largest amount of cryptocurrency ever seized by the British police, but also the world's largest money laundering case.
The Chinese woman who was found guilty is named Jian Wen (transliteration), 42 years old. Just a few years ago, she was just an ordinary restaurant employee.
2. Ordinary people soar to the sky
Reports show that Jian Wen described herself as coming from an ordinary family. In 2007, she came to the UK with her husband while pregnant.
However, after the birth of the child, their marriage soon broke down and Jian Wen could only live a frugal life.
Although she later studied and obtained a diploma in law and a bachelor's degree in economics, her life still did not improve.
She moved to London in 2017. To support herself and her son, she worked in a Chinese takeaway restaurant and lived in a small room downstairs from the restaurant.
In order to increase her income, she took on a number of part-time jobs in addition to her main job, including dealing in cryptocurrencies.
All in all, everything is pretty standard, except for the slightly newfangled aspect of dealing with cryptocurrencies.
But after one day, Jian Wen's life suddenly changed drastically.
3. Throwing money around
She no longer lived in a dark and damp basement, but moved into a mansion worth more than 5 million pounds.
After that, her consumption became extremely extravagant: she paid 17,000 pounds a month to rent a six-bedroom apartment, and paid six months' rent at a time; she sent her children to an aristocratic school, with tuition fees of up to 6,000 pounds per semester; she bought a Mercedes-Benz E-Class sedan and became a distinguished customer of the top luxury department store Harrods.
Next, Jian Wen's job changed. She became a jewelry trader and spent money on shopping all over Europe.
She spent 500,000 pounds to buy an apartment in Dubai, bid for an antique house worth 10 million pounds in Italy, spent nearly 150,000 pounds on jewelry in Switzerland, and finally spent tens of millions of pounds to buy three properties in London.
However, according to media reports, despite such crazy spending, he still failed to exchange enough Bitcoins into pounds in time, which eventually attracted the attention of regulators. He was targeted for investigation, resulting in a search in 2018, an arrest in 2021, and subsequent trial.
4. The final boss behind
Although she was listed as a Class A criminal, Jian Wen herself was not the ultimate boss of the case, she was just a worker.
Even during the trial, he firmly denied that he knew the funds were proceeds of crime, and insisted that he was deceived by "that woman."
The woman that Jian Wen mentioned was the employer who helped her go from poverty to wealth.
According to Jian Wen's recollection, one day she saw an advertisement on WeChat recruiting a housekeeper, so she contacted the employer and eventually met the employer, a mysterious woman whose alias was Zhangyadi and whose real name was Qian Zhimin, at the five-star Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington.
From then on, I began to serve her.
5. Blue Sky Green
Qian Zhimin is quite an extraordinary person. She once planned a scam and successfully defrauded a huge sum of US$6.3 billion from 130,000 victims, and then quickly ran away with the money.
The scam she planned was the famous Blue Sky Green illegal fund-raising case.
According to British court documents, Blue Sky Green once sold investment products that promised a staggering return rate of 100% to 300%.
Dozens of branches have been established in 30 provinces and cities across the country, and most of the victims are elderly people.
Later, the boss behind the company absconded with the money. Many media reported that the company offered a high price of 15 million to help its general manager, who was criminally detained by the police, to obtain bail.
Qian Zhimin himself has always been behind the scenes from the very beginning and has never come to the fore.
When the company was founded, she used a high salary of RMB 26,948 and a one-time bonus of RMB 997,000 to persuade her employee Ren Jiangtao to serve as the company's sole shareholder and legal representative.
She even asked Ren Jiangtao to open an account specifically for purchasing Bitcoin, and promised that she could resolve all problems.
However, when the matter came to a head, Qian Zhimin simply ran away with the money, leaving behind a group of senior executives including Ren Jiangtao, and allowed them to be arrested.
6. Careful planning
Some media reported Qian Zhimin's very detailed escape plan.
Before running away, she bought a Burmese passport under the name of NAN YIN, and then impersonated Zhang Yadi to obtain another passport of Saint Kitts and Nevis.
She entered Laos using a Burmese passport and then flew from Laos to the UK using a St Kitts and Nevis passport.
In this way, she came to London under the alias Zhang Yadi, and later hired Jian Wen using this alias.
Qian Zhimin's plan was not limited to escape, she also conceived a perfect plan to escape the crime.
According to media reports, Qian Zhimin wrote in her diary: First, buy a private country, Liberland, then build the largest Buddhist temple in Europe, and then ask religious leaders to anoint her as the reincarnated goddess and Queen of Liberland. After becoming the head of a country, she will naturally gain diplomatic immunity.
It’s a pity that such a careful plan cannot be implemented as soon as possible due to a simple flaw.
7. Suffering from illness
Qian Zhimin had a very flexible and clear mind, which is why he was able to plan and carry out a fraud involving tens of billions of yuan and escape successfully.
But God seems to have intentionally made capable people have great defects in other aspects.
Qian Zhimin had been in a car accident, so he was very weak, breathing heavily, and walking with a limp.
Not only that, this smart guy didn't learn much foreign language and could hardly speak any English.
Therefore, she desperately needs someone, preferably a Chinese who can speak English, to take care of her health and help her continue with her plan.
Just like that, she and Jian Wen came together.
According to Jian Wen's recollection, in real life, Qian Zhimin, who had difficulty walking, would stay in bed for more than 20 hours a day.
She often had nightmares when she fell asleep, and when she woke up, she would use her laptop to play games, shop, and sell Bitcoin.
8. A Slightly Protracted Trial
In 2018, the master and servant planned to use Bitcoin to buy a mansion worth 25 million pounds. However, because they could not explain the source of the funds, not only did they fail to buy the house successfully, but they were also targeted by the British anti-money laundering police.
In October of that year, the mansion where the two lived was searched by Scotland Yard police with a search warrant, and some electronic equipment was also seized.
However, the two were not detained for this. Instead, their passports that had been confiscated were returned to them six months later.
In 2020, the couple's mansion was searched for the second time. According to Scotland Yard, £110 million worth of Bitcoin was transferred during these two searches.
A month later, the day before police summoned Qian Zhimin, she disappeared from the UK.
Three years after the electronic devices were seized, British police discovered 61,000 bitcoins worth around £3.4 billion hidden in them.
As for why it still takes three years to "crack" and discover the secret even though there is a wallet and password, perhaps this is just a small and insignificant issue.
9. Difficulty in debt collection
The Financial Times revealed the possible consequences of handling the 61,000 bitcoins.
The Crown Prosecution Service has launched civil recovery proceedings in the High Court to determine whether there are any other legal claimants.
If it is ultimately determined that there is no evidence, then the billions of pounds worth of Bitcoin will be officially confiscated.
According to regulations, half will be assigned to the British police and the other half to the UK Home Office.
Yan Lixin, professor of finance at the School of International Finance of Fudan University and executive director of the China Anti-Money Laundering Research Center, pointed out in an interview with Phoenix Eye that once no one claims this right, the British Home Office and the police will definitely have enough motivation to go through legal procedures to "divide the spoils."
Yan Lixin also pointed out that the Chinese government, judicial organs and police will not sit idly by and have the right to pursue and recover the money in this case. The British side should cooperate and support it because both sides are members of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and must abide by common rules.
However, the seizure, freezing, detention and disposal of virtual currencies will face many difficulties, and this is true all over the world.
For example, it is difficult to determine ownership and value assessment, and relevant technical means are seriously lagging behind.
In short, it will be very difficult for the 130,000 victims in China to collect debts across borders and obtain compensation from virtual currency.
