Chinese National At Center Of Historic $6.7B Crypto Bust Pleads Guilty

A Chinese national, “Zhimin Qian” (also known as “Yadi Zhang”), has pleaded guilty in London to offences linked to what authorities call one of the largest cryptocurrency seizures on ￰0￱ to court records, she admitted two counts under the Proceeds of Crime Act for acquiring and possessing criminal property in the form of bitcoin at Southwark Crown ￰1￱ Seizure Found In A Hampstead Property Based on reports , police found devices holding about 61,000 BTC during a 2018 search of a hampstead home, a haul now valued at roughly £5 billion (about $6.7 billion). That cache has been described by investigators as one of the biggest single crypto seizures ￰2￱ say the case traces back to an investment scheme run in China between 2014 and ￰3￱ have disclosed that more than 128,000 people were cheated out of money that was later converted into ￰4￱ follows a seven-year ongoing investigation by the Met’s Economic Crime team into international money laundering, which today has seen the leading figure convicted for her ￰5￱ Qian, 45 (04.09.1978), of no fixed address, pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown Court on… ￰6￱ — Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) September 29, 2025 Qian is accused of moving those proceeds into crypto and then trying to hide them ￰7￱ Claims And Alleged Promises According to court filings and reporting, Qian ran a company called Tianjin Lantian Gerui Electronic Technology, which promised very high returns — figures as large as 300% were used in promotional material — and claimed involvement in mining and other crypto ￰8￱ say investors’ cash was routed into exchanges and swapped for ￰9￱ And Legal Steps Underway The Metropolitan Police say Qian was charged after a long, cross-border probe and has been remanded in custody ahead of sentencing and further recovery ￰10￱ recovery steps are also under way to try to return assets to ￰11￱ police listed offences of acquiring and possessing criminal property in their statement about the ￰12￱ Convicted And Overseas Links Reports note that an associate, “Jian Wen”, was earlier convicted in relation to parts of the scheme and received a prison term of almost seven years for laundering some of the ￰13￱ also say properties tied to the investigation were seized abroad, including in Dubai, as investigators followed funds around the ￰14￱ Comes Next Sentencing dates have not yet been set and Qian remains in ￰15￱ testimony and evidence presented in London are expected to include material from overseas agencies and witnesses, with victims in China due to give accounts ￰16￱ case is likely to be used as an example of how law enforcement can track and seize large crypto holdings across ￰17￱ image from Pexels, chart from TradingView