A Chinese woman dubbed the “Crypto Queen of China,” Qian Zhimin, is facing sentencing in London after pulling off one of the most audacious cryptocurrency scams in history — laundering over $5 billion in Bitcoin and defrauding more than 100,000 investors, many of them elderly.

Zhimin, who posed as a tech entrepreneur and philanthropist, promised investors “high returns” through Bitcoin mining and medical technology innovations. But police say her company, Lantian Gerui (also known as Bluesky Greet), was nothing more than a sophisticated Ponzi scheme, paying early investors with funds from new ones.

When Chinese authorities began investigating in 2017, Zhimin fled the country on a fake passport and settled in a luxury mansion in Hampstead, North London, paying over €18,000 per month in rent. She claimed to be the heiress of a diamond and antiques fortune and even hired a former restaurant worker as a personal assistant to help her launder money into real estate and cash.

Police Find Hidden Crypto Fortune Worth Over $100 Million

A year later, Metropolitan Police raided her home and found hard drives containing tens of thousands of Bitcoins — one of the largest crypto seizures ever made in the UK.
According to the BBC, the value of the Bitcoin stash has increased more than 20-fold since it first entered the country.

Back in China, her company had attracted more than 40 billion yuan ($5.6 billion) from roughly 120,000 investors. Many were retirees persuaded by patriotic marketing slogans such as “Love our elders with the passion of first love” and lavish events featuring political guests — even the son-in-law of Mao Zedong.

Zhimin, who used aliases like Huahua and Little Flower, communicated with her followers through cryptic poems and social-media posts. Her personal diary later revealed her grand ambitions — including buying a castle in Sweden and declaring herself “Queen of Liberland,” a micronation on the border of Serbia and Croatia.

The Fall of a Crypto Queen

Zhimin was arrested in York in April 2023, living with four undocumented workers acting as her domestic staff and guards. Initially claiming she was the victim of political persecution, she eventually pleaded guilty to money laundering and possession of criminal property in September.

Her case, now before Southwark Crown Court, also includes a “proceeds of crime” phase that will determine the fate of the seized Bitcoin. Thousands of Chinese investors are preparing legal claims to recover a portion of the assets — though if none are validated, the fortune may be transferred to the UK Treasury.

A lawyer representing victims warned that the process would be “extremely complex,” as many payments were made through local promoters rather than directly to Zhimin’s company.

Meanwhile, UK prosecutors are exploring ways to create a compensation mechanism for victims without legal representation.

Victims Speak Out

For many victims, the damage was devastating.
“I lost everything — even my marriage,” said Mr. Yu, one of the defrauded investors. “Some people couldn’t afford medical treatment anymore. Some didn’t survive it.”

He added, “If the UK government shows compassion, maybe the seized Bitcoin can give us back even a fraction of what we lost.