Sentencing of £5 billion “crypto Queen” after world’s largest Bitcoin seizure
Richard Thomas KC (instructed by Berkeley Square Solicitors), leading Philippa Eastwood and then Ashley Hendron, has been instructed in both the criminal and civil proceedings arising from the seizure of a vast amount of cryptocurrency, now worth approximately £5 billion.
Zhimin Qian, aka Yadi Zhang, was prosecuted for laundering the proceeds of a wide-scale fraud in China said to have impacted more than 100,000 investors. She founded a company known as Lantian Gerui which was endorsed by well-known figures including the son-in-law of the late Chairman Mao and held events in the Great Hall of the People. The extraordinary background to this case has been extensively covered in the worldwide media.
The criminal proceedings involved extensive expert evidence about cryptocurrencies and the political, regulatory and judicial position in China and followed the largest and most complex criminal investigations ever undertaken by the Metropolitan Police. Ms Qian pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 11 years 8 months’ imprisonment for what the judge described as money laundering of an unprecedented scale. The Crown did not pursue confiscation proceedings.
The civil proceedings in the High Court (the PFO and CRO applications) in respect of what is the world’s largest cryptocurrency seizure are similarly complex and remain ongoing.
