London Court Convicts Chinese Mastermind Behind £5bn Crypto Seizure

Zhimin Qian, the ‘Bitcoin Queen,’ pleads guilty in the UK after police seized over £5 billion in stolen crypto, the world’s largest crypto seizure. Details on the Ponzi scam and fight for the funds.

The mastermind behind one of China’s largest financial frauds has pleaded guilty in a London court, confessing to her role in laundering a record-breaking amount of cryptocurrency.

Chinese national Zhimin Qian (aka Yadi Zhang), 47, admitted to unlawfully acquiring and possessing cryptocurrency at Southwark Crown Court on Monday, September 29, 2025. This seals her conviction in what authorities term the world’s largest cryptocurrency seizure, where police confiscated over 61,000 Bitcoin, now worth over £5.5 billion, bringing a seven-year, multi-jurisdictional money laundering investigation to a dramatic turn.

The £5billion Ponzi Scheme

 Authorities allege that between 2014 and 2017, Qian carried out a vast Ponzi-style investment scheme known as the Lantian Gerui fraud ...