UK Court Hears of 7-Year Odyssey to Find Mastermind of $5.62 Billion China Fraud

Prosecutor Gillian Jones KC told a court in London the Lantian Gerui investment fund, created by Qian Zhimin, was a classic Ponzi scheme.

(Left) Qian Zhimin in an undated custody image. (Right) Qian Zhimin on CCTV footage outside her rented home in Hampstead, London. Courtesy of the Metropolitan Police

LONDON—A Chinese national who police said bought cryptocurrency now worth billions using funds from Chinese investors has been sentenced by a UK court to 11 years and eight months in prison for money laundering.

Southwark Crown Court on Nov. 11 was told of a seven-year hunt to find Qian Zhimin, who set up a company in China called Lantian Gerui (Blue Sky) and, between 2014 and 2017, duped about 128,000 people into investing in her company, which claimed to be developing health products. Qian then converted about 20.2 million pounds ($26.5 million) of the illegally obtained money into bitcoin.