China’s ‘cryptoqueen’ jailed in UK over $6.6 billion Bitcoin scam

LONDON AP A Chinese woman who was determined with billion pounds billion in Bitcoin after defrauding more than people in China in a Ponzi scheme was sentenced by a U K court on Tuesday to over years in prison Police announced the examination into Zhimin Qian led to officers recovering devices holding Bitcoin in the largest cryptocurrency seizure in the U K Qian dubbed cryptoqueen by British media was arrested in April after spending years evading the administration and living an extravagant lifestyle in Europe staying in luxury hotels across the continent and buying fine jewelry and watches prosecutors mentioned Police stated she ran a pyramid scheme that lured more than people to invest in her business between and including a great number of who invested their life savings and pensions Personnel mentioned she stored the illegally obtained funds in Bitcoin assets When she attracted the attention of Chinese bureaucrats Qian fled to the U K under a fake identity Once in London police explained she rented a lavish house for over pounds per month Investigators detected notes Qian had written documenting her aspirations including her intention to become the monarch of Liberland a self-proclaimed country consisting of a strip of land between Croatia and Serbia The businesswoman who had pleaded guilty to money laundering offenses and transferring and possessing criminal property was sentenced Tuesday to years and eight months at Southwark Crown Court She was sentenced alongside her accomplice Seng Hok Ling a Malaysian national who was accused of helping Qian transfer and launder the cryptocurrency Ling was jailed at the same court for four years and months after he pleaded guilty to one count of transferring criminal property Source