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Briefly
- “Skilled cash launderer” Sen Hok Ling, who helped Zhimin Qian transfer her funds, has been advised he must pay again $7.6 million (£5 million) to UK authorities.
- Ling was sentenced to virtually 5 years in November 2025 after pleading responsible on one rely of cash laundering offences.
- Civil proceedings stay ongoing to find out the destiny of Qian’s 61,000 BTC.
The UK’s Crown Prosecution Service has advised the one-time financier and fixer of convicted Chinese language Bitcoin fraudster Zhimin Qian that he must pay again over $7.6 million (£5 million) or threat additional jail time.
Sen Hok Ling, a Malaysian nationwide described by the CPS as a “skilled cash launderer,” obtained 83.7 BTC from Qian between February and April 2024, which he cashed out in United Arab Emirates-based financial institution accounts and thru third events who transformed it to money.
⚖️ @CPSUK with @metpoliceuk obtained multi-million-pound Confiscation Order towards convicted cash launderer Seng Hok Ling https://t.co/8qveSYwPr0 pic.twitter.com/83o8LWOcDY
— Crown Prosecution Service (@CPSUK) January 22, 2026
“Ling took half in a classy cash laundering operation which laundered many hundreds of thousands of kilos from the proceeds of crime,” stated Adrian Foster, Chief Crown Prosecutor of Crown Prosecution Service Proceeds of Crime Division, in a press release.
“We’ve in the present day secured a Confiscation Order towards him of over £5 million, which he should pay inside 3 months or threat being returned to jail for an extra sentence of eight years.”
Ling was sentenced to 4 years and 11 months in jail in November 2025 after pleading responsible to at least one rely of a cash laundering associated offence. He was sentenced alongside Qian, also referred to as Yadi Zhang, who obtained 11 years and eight months following a responsible plea for 2 cash laundering offences.
Zhimin Qian’s Ponzi scheme
Between 2014 and 2017, Qian ran a Ponzi scheme in China by way of an organization known as Lantian Gerui, principally focusing on aged Chinese language buyers. The scheme conned 128,000 folks out of pensions and life financial savings, many lured in with elaborate banquets and roadshows, in addition to visitors on the occasions such because the son-in-law of Chairman Mao. Payouts stopped in 2017. Qian transformed a few of her ill-gotten features in crypto and fled the nation.
She arrived within the UK with a passport beneath the title Yadi Zhang and set about reinventing herself. She tried to money out the Bitcoin and buy high-end London properties however discovered herself blocked by know-your-customer necessities, finally renting a $21,000-a-month mansion in Hampstead Heath, London as an alternative.
Presently, her diary confirmed her plotting to rub shoulders with European aristocracy, musing over shopping for a Swedish fort, changing into buddies with a duke and buying a British financial institution. She additionally harbored ambitions to grow to be “Queen of Liberland,” referring to an unrecognized microstate within the Danube river the place Tron founder Justin Solar is prime minister.
Her machinations have been, nonetheless, minimize quick when she was arrested in York in April 2024. Raids on her Hampstead mansion uncovered 61,000 BTC, the most important crypto seizure in UK historical past.
The UK’s $5.4 billion Bitcoin haul
What to do with the cash—at the moment value $5.4 billion—stays the topic of debate. Buyers in Lantian Gerui didn’t pay in crypto and are estimated to have misplaced a mixed whole of $600 million, a fraction of the Bitcoin's present worth.
Civil proceedings are ongoing to resolve how the Bitcoin will probably be disbursed. Whereas victims will should be reimbursed, the extra funds might find yourself within the UK Treasury.
Nick Harris, CEO at Crypto Asset Restoration Agency CryptoCare, advised Decrypt that the UK’s Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 empowers authorities to grab funds from fraud even when they originate abroad. “The legislation permits the UK to retain such funds, usually directing them to the Treasury or legislation enforcement,” he stated.
Following the fraudsters’ sentencing, Harris beforehand instructed the UK may set up a strategic reserve with the funds, “strengthening its place within the international crypto financial system whereas supporting victims by way of separate compensation mechanisms.”
