Chinese-British woman convicted of money laundering and mastermind has fled the country
Last month, the British court convicted Wen Jian, a 42-year-old Chinese woman, of participating in money laundering. The sentence will be pronounced on May 10. Police said they seized more than 61,000 bitcoins worth billions of pounds during the investigation, making it the largest cryptocurrency seizure in history. Behind these funds are nearly 130,000 victims across China.
Wen Jian helped his boss Zhang Yadi (real name Qian Zhimin) convert Bitcoin into cash, jewelry, real estate, etc.
After the case was exposed, a self-media person published an article stating that Qian Zhimin defrauded nearly 130,000 unsuspecting investors in China through a false wealth management plan between 2014 and 2017, and transferred The money is converted into Bitcoins. Before the incident, she arrived in the UK with a fake St. Kitts and Nevis passport. And exposed Qian Zhimin’s fake passport photo.
Recently, reports from mainland media such as Caixin revealed more details of the case.
Wen Jian (Wen Jian (the Chinese translation of the English name in different media varies) is only the “holder” of Bitcoin, the real owner, her so-called “boss”), escaped from the UK in August 2020, and her whereabouts are currently unknown .
Wen Jian was born in an ordinary working-class family in China. She met her British husband in China and moved to West Yorkshire, England on a spousal visa in 2007. The two have a son. After divorcing after three years of marriage, Wen Jian sent his son back to China to go to school. In 2017, Wen Jian moved to London, where he worked in a Chinese takeaway restaurant in the south and lived in the basement of the takeaway restaurant.
After Wen Jian worked as a housekeeper for Qian Zhimin, he lived a life of spending money like water. The Crown Prosecution Service stated in a press release: Wen Jian lived in a mansion with a monthly rent of 17,000 pounds (approximately 155,000 yuan), drove a Mercedes-Benz luxury car, and shopped in Harrods, a high-end British shopping mall. Spend tens of thousands of pounds on big-name fashions and shoes, buy jewelry in Zurich, buy an apartment in Dubai…
The police disclosed that Wen Jian’s declared income in 2015 and 2016 was 12,800 pounds and 5,979 pounds. In the summer of 2018, when Wen Jian wanted to purchase two luxury homes in North London for 36 million pounds, an anti-money laundering review was triggered. Many suspicions attracted the attention of the police, and 61,000 Bitcoins were eventually locked.
Wen Jian said in court that she did not know that the bitcoins were illegal funds and that she was deceived by her boss.
But British prosecutors believed that Wen Jian should have known that Zhang’s money was illegally obtained. She was not only a “cover” to conceal the source of the funds, but “when traveling with Zhang Yadi, she also avoided countries with which China had signed extradition treaties”; and Before Zhang Yadi went to Sweden, Wen Jian also searched for information on “China’s Extradition Treaty with Sweden” on the Internet. The pair also frequently travel by car, minimizing border checks. There is no extradition agreement between China and the UK.
Tianjin’s 43 billion mega fraud case has nearly 130,000 victims spread across the country
Zhang Yadi is the fugitive principal in the case of Tianjin Blue Sky Gerui Electronic Technology Co., Ltd. illegally absorbing public deposits in 2017. The case involved more than 43 billion yuan (RMB, the same below) and nearly 130,000 victims, covering 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions across the country.
Blue Sky Green was established in Tianjin in March 2014. Under the name of an electronic technology company, it launched more than a dozen so-called “short-term investment and financial management” products, and used pyramid schemes to lure the public to invest with high interest rates. The victims are mainly elderly.
The terms of these financial products range from half a year to 30 months, and the investment starting point ranges from 6,000 to 60,000, with no upper limit. The advertised annualized rate of return is – 100% to 300%.
For example, Blue Sky Gerui has a product introduction. Invest 100,000 yuan and sign a 30-month contract. From the third day after signing the contract, Blue Sky Gurui will return 200 yuan in interest every day and transfer the money directly to the bank account without any need for any payment. Operation; after half a year, the daily interest return will double to 400 yuan; after 13 months of investment, 100,000 yuan can be recovered; after 30 months of investment, there will be a profit of nearly 400,000 yuan.
Qian Zhimin also did not appear on any industrial and commercial registration entity in Blue Sky Green. Ren Jiangtao, the legal representative of Lantian Gerui, confessed that “the actual controller of the company is Qian Zhimin.” Ren Jiangtao said that the financial products of Blue Sky Gerui were all launched by her and had no corresponding physical objects. Different financial products corresponded to Bitcoin and Bitcoin respectively, and the money in the financial products was all controlled by Qian Zhimin.
Recently, according to an article in the self-media “Li Dan Fintalk”, when Blue Sky Green Company was established, Qian Zhimin used high salary and bonuses to persuade Ren Jiangtao to become the company’s sole shareholder and legal representative. Qian Zhimin also asked Ren to open a Huobi account specifically for purchasing Bitcoin. Faced with Ren Jiangtao’s doubts, Qian Zhimin promised to solve all problems.
In July 2017, Qian Zhimin withdrew Bitcoin worth tens of billions of yuan from Ren Jiangtao’s currency account to his laptop and ran away.
A judicial document obtained by Caixin shows that in 2015, one year after the establishment of Blue Sky Green, Qian Zhimin had plans to transfer assets to the UK. “At the end of 2015, Blue Sky Company organized an inspection and travel trip to the UK. More than 30 people went there, and I went with them.” A witness testified that she also registered a branch of Blue Sky Gerui on King’s Road in London. We also Went to see it.”
In August 2017, because Qian Zhimin absconded with the money, the funds of Blue Sky Green completely collapsed. Blue Sky Gree issued an announcement to suspend dividends due to financial system upgrades.
At the end of 2017, the mainland police opened a case. At that time, Qian Zhimin had already completed the investment immigration process and obtained a new identity, and was preparing to run away. Although the police arrested 50 suspects, they did not arrest Qian Zhimin.
Some netizens questioned: “Which high-ranking official released her?”
Some netizens questioned: “What is the government’s financial supervision for?”
In December 2017, Tianjin police issued a notice to investigate Blue Sky Green for allegedly illegally absorbing public deposits. The report also did not mention Qian Zhimin.
Qian Zhimin fled to the UK under a false name
According to information disclosed by the British police, Qian Zhimin arrived in London in September 2017, using the name of Zhang Yadi and a passport from St. Kitts and Nevis, which was issued in July 2017. The date of birth on Zhang Yadi’s passport is November 10, 1990, but Qian Zhimin was actually born on September 4, 1978.
The “Li Dan Fintalk” article revealed that Qian Zhimin’s escape was naturally well-arranged. Before running away, Qian Zhimin first bought a Myanmar passport in the name of NAN YIN, and then pretended to be Zhang Yadi (Zhang Yadi). Arrived another St. Kitts and Nevis passport. When running away, Qian Zhimin entered Laos using a Myanmar passport, and then flew from Laos to the UK using a St. Kitts and Nevis passport.
Qian Zhimin becomes Zhang Yadi in the UK.
Yan Lixin, a professor at the School of International Finance at Fudan University and CEO of the China Anti-Money Laundering Research Center, told Phoenix.com’s Eye of the Storm, “This is a long-planned fraud case, and the fraud method is to illegally absorb public deposits. Criminals also The use of virtual currency for money laundering is closely linked to each other.”
Caixin reported that it is unclear how much money Qian Zhimin transferred out of the country, but 61,000 Bitcoins were estimated at a price of about US$2,800 per coin in July 2017. At that time, she transferred at least 1.23 billion yuan in this way. . Today, these Bitcoins have increased in value 25 times, with a market value of approximately 31 billion yuan.
Wen Jian helped Qian Zhimin launder money
The case began when British police seized 61,000 Bitcoins from a digital wallet related to Wen Jian in 2021.
When Qian Zhimin first arrived in the UK, he lived in a high-end hotel in a wealthy area of London. At that time, Wen Jian saw a housekeeper recruitment information in a London Chinese WeChat group, and after an interview, he became Zhang Yadi’s life assistant and translator (housekeeper). Zhang offered Wen Jian a monthly salary of 4,000 pounds.
Within a few days of meeting, she asked Wen Jian to help her rent a house, and the two soon moved into a six-bedroom mansion in London with a monthly rent of 17,000 pounds. Later, Wen Jian also brought his son back from China to attend a private school in the UK, with tuition fees of 6,000 pounds per semester.
“Li Dan Fintalk” broke the news that Qian Zhimin had a car accident in China, which caused him to walk with a limp and speak almost no English. Alone, she needs a companion and assistant, and Chinese is the best.
Wen Jian’s main job, in addition to helping Qian Zhimin handle financial transactions and convert Bitcoins into cash, is to accompany Zhang Yadi on shopping trips across Europe. Zhang Yadi told Wen Jian that these Bitcoins were all hers.
The police disclosed that the two purchased multiple Van Cleef & Arpels watches and tens of thousands of pounds of fine jewelry by selling Bitcoins. Within three months at the end of 2017, Wen Jian spent 90,000 pounds on big-name women’s clothing, jewelry and shoes at Harrods, a well-known high-end shopping mall in London. Wen Jian also spent more than 500,000 pounds to buy two apartments in Dubai and is considering bidding on an 18th-century Italian villa worth 10 million pounds.
From the autumn of 2017 to the end of 2018, Wen Jian had been looking at houses in London. Qian Zhimin asked her to buy a house for him, and the funds for the purchase had to be exchanged for Bitcoin. They took a fancy to two mansions in North London, one worth 23.5 million pounds and the other worth 12.5 million pounds. They are both manor-style mansions with swimming pools, private cinemas and gyms.
However, because they could not provide sufficient proof of the source of funds and could not explain the source of the Bitcoin, the house purchase plan failed, and the two people were also targeted by the British anti-money laundering police.
On October 31, 2018, London police raided the mansion where the two lived together and found 48 devices, including mobile phones and laptops, as well as thousands of digital files, and eventually traced the digital wallet where Bitcoin was stored. After several years of investigation, British police discovered 61,000 Bitcoins in a digital wallet and found that the funds behind it were related to an illegal fund-raising case in China.
Can the 61,000 Bitcoins in the UK be recovered by Chinese victims?
At present, the ins and outs of the case have been investigated, but it is still unknown whether the 61,000 Bitcoins can be recovered and returned to Chinese investors.
Currently, 61,000 Bitcoins have been seized by British police. A proceeds of crime hearing will be held in September 2024, where a decision will be made on what to do with the seized Bitcoins.
Caixin reported that according to British judicial practice, when no one else claims rights to criminal assets, half will be handed over to the British Home Office and half to the police.
Yan Lixin, CEO of the China Anti-Money Laundering Research Center, said, “The actual implementation of this case is difficult…”
According to British police, no asset recovery request has been received from China.
The “Li Dan Fintalk” article ridiculed that after Qian Zhimin’s manipulations, the hard-earned money of nearly 130,000 Chinese victims may eventually be confiscated by the UK.
In the past year or two, some local public security agencies in mainland China have issued an online registration announcement for the information of participants in the Blue Sky Gurui fund-raising case, saying that the withdrawal of funds has been initiated.
A registered investor told Caixin that “it is estimated that the return will be less than 10%.”
Mainland netizens commented that the cost of fraud crimes using companies as a cover is extremely low, and China’s lack of supervision, accountability and compensation system is the main reason for the proliferation of profit chains of fraud crimes in China, and the chain effects have caused widespread social problems and Influence.
Editor in charge: Sun Yun