Fixer behind Bitcoin fraudster's £5bn scam locked up for 4 years

A DERBYSHIRE man acting as the fixer for a Chinese fraudster who masterminded a scam that led UK police to make the world’s largest ever cryptocurrency seizure of Bitcoin worth more than £5.5billion. has been jailed for nearly five years.

- By GEORGIA BATES

Seng Hok Ling, 47, assisted Zhimin Qian, also 47, to defraud more than 128,000 victims in China through a Ponzi scheme before fleeing to the UK as an international fugitive.

She had stored the illegally obtained funds in Bitcoin assets and spent years evading UK police by sightseeing across Europe, staying in upmarket hotels and living a life of “luxury”, Southwark Crown Court heard.

Qian, also known as Yadi Zhang, was eventually arrested in 2024 after spending nearly six years “at large” in what has been described by police as the single largest confirmed cryptocurrency seizure in the world.

The businesswoman was sentenced to 11 years and eight months at the same court on Tuesday after previously admitting money laundering offences and transferring and possessing criminal property, namely cryptocurrency.

Her accomplice, Seng Hok Ling, was sentenced to four years and 11 months in prison after pleading guilty to transferring criminal property over his role in the multibillion-pound fraud.

When Qian and Ling were convicted in September, the value of the Bitcoin was priced at more than £5.5 billion, according to Metropolitan Police officers.

It is understood that the value is constantly changing, and is currently priced at around £5 billion.

Gillian Jones KC, prosecuting, told the sentencing hearing that Qian had defrauded more than 128,000 victims between 2014 and 2017 through her business Lantian Gerui.