Chinese takeaway worker Jian Wen jailed for money laundering after £3bn Bitcoin seizure
Wen, 42, tried to buy properties in London, including a £23.5m seven-bedroom Hampstead mansion with a swimming pool and a £12.5m home with a cinema and gym. A former Chinese takeaway worker found guilty of money laundering after police seized more than £3bn worth of Bitcoin has been jailed for more than six years.
Jian Wen, 42, came to the attention of police when she tried to buy some of London's most expensive properties, including a £23.5m seven-bedroom Hampstead mansion with a swimming pool and a nearby £12.5m home with a cinema and gym.
The investigation led to the UK's biggest-ever cryptocurrency seizure when more than 61,000 Bitcoin were discovered in digital wallets.
The cryptocurrency was worth £1.4bn at the time but its value has now risen to more than £3bn, while 23,308 Bitcoin, now worth more than £1bn, linked to the probe remains in circulation.
The Bitcoin allegedly came from a £5bn investment scam carried out in China between 2014 and 2017.
Wen was not involved in the fraud but was said to have acted as a "front person" to help disguise the source of the money, some of which had been used to buy cryptocurrency and smuggled out of China on laptops. She was found guilty of one count of money laundering, relating to 150 Bitcoin, now worth nearly £8m, between October 2017 and January 2022 last month following a retrial at Southwark Crown Court.
