According to the City Express, on September 29, local time, the UK's largest Bitcoin money laundering case, China's Tianjin Blue Sky, China's largest illegal fundraising case, Wang Zemin was tried in London, and the court acknowledged related allegations about Bitcoin money laundering. In the case, more than 12.8 million people were cheated, involving 6.1 million Bitcoins (about RMB 493.5 billion),She acknowledged obtaining and holding these illegal income.
Zhimin Qian (translated by Zhimin Qian)
The defendant's name is Zhimin Qian, pseudonym Yadi Zhang, 47 years old.
The Metropolitan Police Department issued a statement saying: "Between 2014 and 2017, Zhang Yadi planned a major fraud case in China, in which more than 128,000 victims were deceived, and his illegal proceeds were subsequently transferred into Bitcoin assets."
Police added that the woman then used forged documents to abscond out of China and enter the UK, and attempted to launder money by purchasing real estate in September 2018.
Will Ryan, the head of the Economic and Cyber Crime Department at the UK Police Department, said the case “is not only one of the largest cases in British history, but also one-two cases in global cryptocurrency cases.”
The case lasted seven years of investigation, and last year the same woman, a 42-year-old British Chinese woman, was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison.
Wen Jian (Jian Wen transliteration)
Qian Zhimin is currently in custody awaiting sentencing, and a date for sentencing has not yet been set. Groto, head of the Metropolitan Police's investigation team, said that the defendant had been "evading legal sanctions" for five years before his arrest. The investigation of the case involved multiple jurisdictions and the process was very complicated.
Vice Chief Prosecutor at the Royal Public Prosecutor’s Office (CPS) said: “Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are increasingly being used by organized criminals to hide and transfer assets so that fraudsters can enjoy the benefits of their criminal activities.
The Crown Prosecution Service said last year that many victims had received partial compensation under a compensation scheme set up by China.
According to Jiemian News, a victim of Blue Sky Grey confirmed the above progress. But they are also at a loss to what extent they can recover their losses next.
The British side will initiate confiscation proceedings in the light of the confession of money.The trial is expected to last 12 weeks.Many Chinese victims will testify in a remote video court in Tianjin.
China's Tianjin Lantian Gerui extraordinarily illegal fund-raising case occurred in 2017, involving over 43 billion yuan and nearly 130,000 victims, covering 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions across the country. Qian Zhimin is the actual controller of the company.
After the product exploded in 2017, Qian Zhimin converted his illegal income into Bitcoin and transferred it overseas, and used a fake passport to escape to the UK. In May 2021, the police seized and frozen 61,000 bitcoins in Qian Zhimin's equipment. In April 2024, Qian Zhimin was arrested in the UK.
Qian Zhimin previously denied all money laundering charges
According to Interface News, Wang Zemin denied all allegations of money laundering at the trial on 21 October 2024. Her lawyer said: “The Wang Zemin denies all allegations of criminal acts and intends to actively defend the case.”
The entrusted lawyer has helped the creditor submit a civil recovery application to the British High Court.
In this regard, the British Prosecutor’s Office specifically informed the Chinese victims that the agency has initiated a civil recovery procedure for assets frozen by the British side from the money sensitive side, and will only engage in interstate contacts after the progress of the procedure is carried out to the extent provided for in Article 281 of the 2002 Criminal Income Recovery Act.
If no other person or entity claims rights to criminal assets, half will go to the UK police and the other half will go to the Home Office to facilitate the disposal of proceeds of crime and deter further crimes。
After the Blue Sky Gerui incident
Flying with a crypto wallet to Britain
The public judgment document shows that on March 31, 2014, Wang Zemin registered in Tianjin to establish Blue Sky Grid, Blue Sky Grid has the sales business of China, China, China, Northwest and Southwest in seven major regions. From April 2014 to August 2017, Blue Sky Grid launched ten financial products, with one to three times the return on investment rate for seduction, illegal absorption of public deposits.
According to China News Weekly, almost no "investors" know the details of Qian Zhimin. What everyone passes down from mouth to mouth is the public publicity information and unconfirmed legends of Lantian Gerui.
Blue Sky Gerui propagandized that "Huahua" (Qian Zhimin's nickname in Blue Sky Gerui) graduated from Tsinghua University with a double doctorate, studied in the United States and understood finance. Han Xinghai (a pseudonym), an "investor" from Shenyang, heard that "Huahua" brought back a lot of technology from the United States. He once asked Huahua why she didn't let her take pictures at the promotion meeting. "She said it was because American technology was brought back by her. If it was revealed, the United States would impose sanctions on her."
Zhang Li (named Zhang Li) from Inner Mongolia and Hoot City in 2016 in Beijing to participate in a thousand-sized blue sky-grey organization advocacy meeting, had seen money-sensitive. At the time, money-sensitive dressed with a pink veil, sitting in a wheelchair, on the passage to the conference table, was raised with a wheelchair, people high up money-sensitive, while shouting the slogan, one of which is "third world rich" - it comes from the blue sky-sensitive propaganda: "You give grey three years, grey give you the third world rich."
"You give Gretzly three years, Gretzly gives you a wealthy third life," the Blue Sky Gretzly product promotions will draw such a slogan.Source:List of respondents
In late April 2024, British media that the date of her birth as Yadi Zhang was presented to the court as November 10, 1990, after Wang Zemin broke out in the UK.The person said that Wang Zhi Minh was born in September 1978 in Jiangsu, specialized in science, married, and later divorced.
Because of the discovery of Blue Sky Gray has allegedly illegally absorbed public deposits, on April 21, 2017, the public security organs filed a case investigation.In June 2019, the Tianjin City Public Security Bureau Hanoi Branch issued a notice, the public security organs captured a total of 50 criminal suspects such as Blue Sky Gray legal representative Jiang Tao, 28 of whom have been transferred for censorship and prosecution.
Ren Jiangtao confessed that he met Qian Zhimin through playing online games. Because he completely obeyed Qian Zhimin's command in the game, Qian Zhimin asked him to serve as the legal representative of Lantian Gerui, but in fact it was just a name, and the specific work still followed Qian Zhimin's arrangements.
According to special audits, from August 2014 to July 2017, Blue Sky Grid absorbed more than $40.2 billion in funds, all of which were controlled by Money Intelligence. From April 2014 to August 2017, Blue Sky Grid returned more than $341 million to 12,8409 people, for the purchase of jewelry items more than $956,8 million, for the purchase of real estate funds more than $918,9 million, for daily operating expenses more than $2,1 million, for the life circle customer service center project expenses more than $1,2 million, and it is worth noting that more than $11,4 million were used to buy Bitcoin.
According to Jiemian News, in December 2022, the Blue Sky Gerui case started the compensation refund procedure, and public security organs in many places across the country issued online registration announcements for the information of fund-raising participants in the case.
After the Blue Sky Gerui incident, Qian Zhimin escaped abroad through a forged passport from a Commonwealth country, and carried with him a laptop with an encrypted wallet, which contained Bitcoin transferred out through his subordinate Huobi account in advance.
In 2018, Qian Zhimin and his assistant tried to directly purchase a Hampstead mansion worth £ 23.5 million with Bitcoin due to their failure to convert Bitcoin into British pounds. In the end, due to the unknown origin of the funds, the two men failed to buy their house, which attracted the attention of the police.
The mansion Qian Zhimin tried to buy with Bitcoin
During the investigation of the two men, the British police seized more than 61,000 bitcoins, the largest amount of cryptocurrency ever seized in the UK.According to the latest quote for each Bitcoin on September 30,113631In the US dollar, the total value of the above-mentioned Bitcoin is currently $ 69.32 billion (approximately RMB 493.5 billion).
Edited | by Kim DuThe Mountain
proofreading| Chen Keming
Image source: Visual China
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