Money Laundering and Chinese Female Fugitive Behind 61,000 Bitcoins

Author: Wang Lina, reporter of Caijing

Chinese law enforcement agencies issued a red notice for the main criminal suspect Qian Zhimin through Interpol, launched a global manhunt, and continued to cooperate with law enforcement agencies of the United Kingdom and other countries in international pursuit and recovery of stolen assets through international law enforcement cooperation channels. All of these will be of historic significance

On May 22, local time in the UK, Qian Zhimin appeared in a court in London, UK, and is expected to stand trial in the UK on October 21, 2024. Qian Zhimin is also the main criminal suspect in a case of illegal absorption of public deposits in China, involving an amount of more than 40.2 billion yuan.

Wandering in the UK and Europe, Qian Zhimin transformed himself into Zhang Yadi (transliteration, Yadi Zhang), holding Zhang Yadi's Saint Kitts and Nevis passport, but this new identity did not allow Qian Zhimin to "escape".

Zhang Yadi is just one of Qian Zhimin's many identities. Caijing reporters learned that this 46-year-old woman, who claimed to have injured her leg in a car accident around 2015, has multiple identities: In the UK, Qian Zhimin claimed to have been engaged in jewelry trade around the world for more than 20 years. Qian Zhimin obtained a fake Myanmar passport in the name of Nan Yin. When in China, Qian Zhimin was the actual controller of the company involved in the aforementioned illegal fundraising case, Tianjin Lantian Green Electronic Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Lantian Green"). Her real name is hidden behind her, and she calls herself "Huahua" and "Hua Jie" to the outside world. Her nickname in the UK has become "Rose" and so on. In order to cover her face, Qian Zhimin wears a pink veil and a masked ball mask when meeting with investors. On these occasions, she talks about investment and financial management, virtual currency, and creates the image of Lantian Green at the forefront of technology and investment, and conveys to investors that the dream of wealth is within reach, "Green will give you three generations of wealth."

After Lantian Green exploded, Qian Zhimin disappeared. According to the Chinese judicial system, the amount involved in the Lantian Green illegal fund-raising case was 40.2 billion yuan, and many of Qian Zhimin's accomplices were sentenced one after another. Qian Zhimin hid in a British luxury house with a monthly rent of 17,000 pounds. When the Chinese police issued a red notice for Qian Zhimin and launched a global mansion hunt, Qian Zhimin took another risk - trying to convert Bitcoin into cash, and trying to convert Bitcoin into funds and transfer it to a bank account to buy high-value properties in the UK and other places. This process was carried out by Jian Wen, who acted as a "front desk" or assistant. Jian Wen was a former employee of a Chinese takeaway store. When buying a house in the UK, he could not explain the true source of the funds, and the purchase behavior caused an investigation by the London police. When searching the residence shared by Jian Wen and Qian Zhimin, the London police seized multiple electronic devices. After investigation and tracking, it contained multiple digital wallets, so more than 61,000 bitcoins were seized. At the end of May 2024, the price of one bitcoin exceeded $70,000. Calculated in this way, the seized bitcoins are worth more than 3 billion pounds.

On May 24, local time in the UK, Wen Jian was sentenced to 80 months in prison by a British court for participating in money laundering crimes. Wen Jian's verdict mentioned that the case was related to a large-scale investment fraud carried out in China from 2014 to 2017, involving more than 40 billion yuan and involving 128,000 investors. Part of the proceeds from this investment fraud case were converted into Bitcoin, put into cryptocurrency wallets, and smuggled out of China on laptops.

When Wen Jian was arrested, Qian Zhimin disappeared again, but was brought to justice recently. According to media reports, Qian Zhimin was detained after returning to London in April this year and was accused of obtaining, using or possessing cryptocurrency as criminal property in London and other places in the UK. He is currently charged with two counts of illegal possession of cryptocurrency.

On May 16, 2024, the Hedong Branch of the Tianjin Municipal Public Security Bureau issued a notice stating that it would continue to cooperate with law enforcement agencies in the United Kingdom and other countries in international pursuit and recovery of fugitives and stolen assets through international law enforcement cooperation channels.

"Did she really buy Bitcoin for us?"

"That's Qian Zhimin!" In March 2024, Xu Jing (pseudonym) asserted this when he noticed the portrait of Zhang Yadi in the report on the Wen Jian case. Xu Jing had previously invested in Lantian Green's financial products, but the investment money went out without return. After Lantian Green exploded, she and some investors communicated with relevant departments and learned the true identity of "Huahua".

Xu Jing, who has retired, invested in 7 Lantian Green financial products, some of which are related to Bitcoin. BlueSky Green was established in March 2014. Its public business scope includes electronic product research and development, network technology product technology development and consulting services. It has no qualifications to sell financial products, but the company has designed 10 financial products.

Since the mysterious birth of Bitcoin in 2009, it has become a subversive digital currency due to its decentralization, anonymity, scarcity, online transactions and payments, and low-cost and fast cross-border payments. In 2013, the year before BlueSky Green was established, Bitcoin entered the vision of more Chinese people. At the end of 2013, Chinese buyers once drove up the price of Bitcoin, and the price of Bitcoin broke through 1,000 US dollars from a few hundred US dollars that year.

In December 2013, in order to prevent money laundering risks and maintain financial stability, the People's Bank of China and other departments issued the "Notice on Preventing Bitcoin Risks", clarifying that Bitcoin is not a real currency and cannot and should not be circulated in the market as legal tender. At the same time, it is clearly stated that financial institutions and payment institutions shall not price products or services in Bitcoin, shall not underwrite insurance business related to Bitcoin or include Bitcoin in the scope of insurance liability, etc.

After its establishment, Blue Sky Green quickly caught up with the craze for virtual currencies such as Bitcoin. Blue Sky Green's British Aisheng Insurance Digital One (hereinafter referred to as "Digital Insurance One"), each order is three Bitcoins, with a total price of 24,000 yuan. During the two-year subscription period, it enjoys a daily income of 0.3‰ of the subscription amount, and can receive a capital income of 24,000 yuan in two years. At the same time, after the two-year period expires, a valuable asset package worth 36,000 yuan will be given, which can be immediately redeemed for virtual digital currencies such as Bitcoin and Dotcoin. When the product was promoted, it was claimed that the appreciation potential of digital currency was huge, and professional butler services and social collaboration were particularly important. British Aisheng Insurance Co., Ltd. is the only insurance company in the world that provides property insurance for digital currency, and its address is located in the British Cayman Islands. Xu Jing bought ten copies, which means she subscribed to 30 Bitcoins.

Zheng Jian (pseudonym) and his wife, who are in Chongqing, also bought Digital Insurance No. 1 and subscribed to more than 10 bitcoins. Zheng Jian told the reporter of Caijing that Qian Zhimin and his subordinate sales said that older investors were not familiar with the operation of Bitcoin, and they would list their Bitcoin under Blue Sky Green to ensure high returns.

Zheng Jian, 59, said that he and his wife began to invest in Blue Sky Green products in 2016 after being introduced by a classmate. Blue Sky Green's products closely follow the investment hotspots. For example, Blue Sky Green claims to have independently developed the first intelligent wearable device "Life Ring", has a supercomputer for mining Bitcoin, and the company's legal representative has been rated as the most honest entrepreneur, which makes Zheng Jian and many middle-aged and elderly investors believe that the company is extraordinary. In order to attract investors, Blue Sky Green organized meetings and inspections, and also launched the slogan "You give Green three years, Green will give you three generations of wealth."

It is understood that Lantian Green also organized a small number of investors to visit and travel in the UK, and claimed that a branch of Lantian Green was registered in the UK.

After the initial income of the financial products arrived, Zheng Jian and his wife gradually fell into Lantian Green's multiple investment products. For example, in the Bitcoin project, a policy of 24,000 yuan, the daily appreciation of each working day is 0.3‰, and Zheng Jian can receive 72 yuan in dividends every working day. In this way, Zheng Jian and his wife gradually increased their investment, and some of them were borrowed funds.

Li Min (pseudonym) in Tianjin is also suffering from Lantian Green's investment. In 2015, Li Min was looking for a house to buy, and had a sum of money in his hand, but he could not resist the persuasion of his classmates and began to invest in Lantian Green's products. Li Min admitted that he was in his 50s at the time, and his children needed money, hoping that the investment could "take a chance" and "earn some money."

Li Min purchased 4 financial products, 10 of which were related to Bitcoin. The salesperson persuaded her to "buy 5 and get 1 free". Li Min bought 5 products twice, spending a total of 240,000 yuan, which means that Li Min subscribed to more than 30 Bitcoins. On May 21, 2024, the price of Bitcoin exceeded the 70,000 US dollar (about 500,000 yuan) mark for the first time.

In the spring of 2017, Li Min went to Jiangsu Province to participate in the promotion event of Blue Sky Green. Li Min recalled that it was the only time she saw "Huahua". Huahua was slightly fat and wore a yellow masquerade mask to speak on the stage. She mentioned that part of the Bitcoin purchased by Blue Sky Green had been sold, "It is profitable, and please rest assured that the subsequent purchases will also appreciate."

After the Blue Sky Green case, investors' dreams of wealth were shattered. Zheng Jian, who claimed to have lost one million yuan, recalled the financial embarrassment of the seven or eight years before and after the incident, and the truth about Lantian Green, which gradually emerged, and sighed that it was like "dreaming".

Many of the elderly were sucked into the investment black hole of Lantian Green. Wang Chen (pseudonym) did not know the specific amount of investment of his parents-in-law in Lantian Green for a long time. Wang Chen said that after his parents-in-law's investment was damaged, they did not dare to tell their family. Only in 2023 did they gradually reveal some information. The loss was the savings of two generations of the family, but the old man believed some rumors and did not even dare to call the police.

Wang Chen said that the elderly in his family had visited Lantian Green's "mine" on site. The on-site equipment was regular, and it was claimed that all supercomputers could mine coins quickly. Because of the large investment amount, the old man got the opportunity to meet "Huahua", who claimed to be a doctor from a prestigious school, had rich experience in financial risk control management, and talked about the company's future and prospects.

Recently, Wang Chen has been sorting out relevant information and is looking for ways to claim her rights and interests. She asked the reporter from Caijing, "Did she (Qian Zhimin) really buy Bitcoin for us?"

Crazy money-making past

The good times didn't last long. In July 2017, Zheng Jian and others found that the income was no longer in their accounts. Lantian Ge Rui stopped returning the money on the pretext that the relevant departments were rectifying. In fact, on April 21, 2017, the Hedong Branch of the Tianjin Municipal Public Security Bureau filed a case against Lantian Ge Rui for suspected illegal absorption of public deposits.

But the Lantian Ge Rui platform is like a giant ship, and the layers of sales did not immediately "brake". According to the judicial verdict on Lantian Green, in April 2017, in Huaxian County, Henan Province, a defendant established a Bitcoin community in the process of developing investors, and in May and June of that year, he was still organizing product promotion meetings to promote Lantian Green's entrusted financial products such as "Carnival", "Digital Insurance No. 1", "Digital Insurance No. 2", "Smart Merchants", and "Life Ring Merchants", sharing investment income experience and promoting the promise of zero risk and high return interest.

In June 2019, the Hedong Branch of the Tianjin Municipal Public Security Bureau reported that since the case of Lantian Green suspected of illegally absorbing public deposits was filed, the public security organs have stepped up efforts to organize and carry out case investigation work. So far, a total of 50 criminal suspects including the company's legal representative Ren Jiangtao have been arrested, of which 28 have been transferred for review and prosecution.

Since 2019, the relevant persons involved in the Lantian Green case have been sentenced after trial. The judicial authorities found out that the Blue Sky Green Company was registered by Qian Zhimin in the name of another person, and in June 2014, Qian Zhimin changed the company's legal representative to Ren Jiangtao. Blue Sky Green is actually controlled by Qian Zhimin and has no qualifications as a banking financial institution.

Multiple judicial documents in the Blue Sky Green series of cases have confirmed that Qian Zhimin recruited Ren Jiangtao and others to launch ten financial products in the name of Blue Sky Green Company, including "Blue Sky No. 1", "Blue Sky No. 2", "Youli Youbi", "Life Ring Customer Service Center Investment Plan", and "Intelligent Service System Investment Plan" across the country. With the promise of repayment of principal and interest and high returns as bait, it publicly promoted to the society through holding financial product promotion meetings, distributing promotional materials, and word of mouth among investors, and signed financial product investment agreements with the general public to absorb funds.

It is reported that Blue Sky Green's financial products include Life Ring, anti-haze purifier, purifier, Bitcoin, etc., and the numerous products are only to attract more customers. Taking Life Ring as an example, Caijing reporter learned from the sentenced case of Lantian Green that a witness mentioned that Lantian Green had established more than 200 Life Ring stores across the country, and almost every customer center had a monthly loss of 7 million yuan. Despite the loss, it continued to expand its stores, and ultimately sold financial products.

Many of Lantian Green's products contain virtual currencies such as Bitcoin. For example, the "Digital No. 2" project requires an investment of 38,000 yuan per share, with an appreciation of 110 yuan per day. The contract period is 24 months, and a 38,000 yuan digital asset package will be given when the contract expires. The digital asset package includes Bitcoin, Dotcoin, and Litecoin. The brochure states that "the total income in two years is about 96,000 yuan!" According to judicial determination, from April 2014 to August 2017, a total of more than 40.228 billion yuan of money was illegally absorbed, all of which was controlled and controlled by Qian Zhimin. Among them, more than 34.118 billion yuan was used to return funds to more than 128,000 fund-raising participants, more than 336.7 million yuan was used for the company's daily expenses and project operations, and the rest of the money was used to purchase real estate, jewelry, cars, etc. After the incident, the public security organs made every effort to recover the stolen money, and legally froze and seized a batch of funds, real estate, vehicles and other assets involved in the case, froze 1.8 billion yuan of funds involved in the case, seized more than 500 million yuan in cash, seized jewelry, gold bars, motor vehicles and other items, and sealed related real estate.

In September 2021, Ren Jiangtao, the legal representative of Lantian Green, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for illegally absorbing public deposits. After the incident, Ren Jiangtao said that he met Qian Zhimin through online games. Because he completely obeyed Qian Zhimin's command in the game, Qian Zhimin asked him to serve as the legal representative of Lantian Green, "but in fact it was just a nominal position". In order to increase the popularity of Lantian Green, the company bought it the title of China's business integrity leader. Lantian Green mainly attracts deposits by selling financial products. Only Qian Zhimin has the right to control the funds attracted. Qian Zhimin also asked him to borrow bank cards from other people to receive the absorbing funds.

In Ren Jiangtao's confession, he and Qian Zhimin verbally agreed that if he worked for three years, Qian Zhimin would give him 1 million yuan, and also agreed to a monthly salary of 30,000 yuan, but in fact he only received 12,000 yuan to 15,000 yuan per month, and he stopped receiving it after more than a year.

Blue Sky Green has indeed mined Bitcoin. Ren Jiangtao confessed that the business that Qian Zhimin assigned to the company included "mining". Ren Jiangtao was responsible for maintaining the "mining mine" and mining machines. The mining machines in the "mine" initially mined Bitcoin, but later the machines became outdated, so they mined another virtual currency, Dotcoin, and the virtual currency mined was transferred to Qian Zhimin irregularly.

Another person who was in charge of the "mine" confirmed that in June 2014, he visited a factory in Nansha District, Guangzhou. The factory had about 1,000 mining machines, which started running in July after debugging. The mining machines were running until March 2015, when they were taken away by people sent by Ren Jiangtao. Soon after, a batch of old mining machines were brought in, but the later mining machines have not been used. There is also a Blue Sky Green mine in Beichen District, Tianjin. They all said that they did not know exactly how many Bitcoins were mined.

According to the audit of Lantian Green's illegal fund-raising case, Lantian Green used 1.14 billion yuan to buy Bitcoin. Caijing reporters checked the public Bitcoin transaction prices and found that from April 2014 to July 2017, the price of one Bitcoin fluctuated between US$310 and US$3,000. According to Caijing reporters, a small amount of the 61,000 Bitcoins seized in the UK came from "mining" and most of them were obtained through transactions.

The mysterious "Huahua"'s cross-border adventure

After the Lantian Green case broke out, "Huahua" Qian Zhimin fled.

Qian Zhimin's escape was planned long ago. Relevant Chinese judicial documents show that Qian Zhimin and Zhao Linfeng became lovers since they met in April 2014. In February 2017, Qian Zhimin asked Zhao Linfeng to find a way to help him sneak across the border, and then Qian Zhimin fled across the border with the help of Zhao Linfeng.

The British judicial documents of the Wen Jian case show that after leaving China, Qian Zhimin obtained a fake Burmese passport in the name of Nan Yin. On September 16, 2017, when Qian Zhimin entered the UK, he held Zhang Yadi's passport of the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis, who had just become a citizen of the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis on June 17, 2017. The holder of this passport enjoys visa-free or visa-on-arrival treatment in more than 150 countries and regions including the United Kingdom and Canada, and can obtain citizenship by investing at least 150,000 US dollars.

Ren Jiangtao and his girlfriend, who also worked at Blue Sky Green, also tried to flee. On November 1, 2017, Ren Jiangtao and his girlfriend were arrested in Vientiane, Laos. A person close to the case of Ren Jiangtao and his girlfriend told Caijing that the two claimed that the company arranged their overseas travel.

Ren Jiangtao also mentioned in his testimony that when Huahua agreed to make him the legal representative, she also said that if the company had problems and needed him to take responsibility, Huahua would find a way to "save" him.

In 2016, Qian Zhimin was accused of "save" Wu Xiaolong, the then general manager of Lantian Green. Relevant judicial documents show that in August 2016, when Wu Xiaolong, then general manager of Lantian Green, and others were promoting the absorption of deposits, they were taken away by relevant departments of Linghai City, Liaoning Province for investigation on suspicion of illegally absorbing public deposits. Fan from Lantian Green Company found Huo Jian, then deputy secretary and deputy manager of Linghai Water Company, for help and promised to give him a huge reward. Huo Jian then repeatedly asked Zhang Lie, then deputy captain of the Economic Investigation Brigade of Linghai Public Security Bureau. Subsequently, Wu Xiaolong was released on bail pending trial. In this incident, Huo Jian received more than 6.69 million yuan in bribes, and Zhang Lie received 8.3 million yuan in bribes. In April 2023, Huo Jian and Zhang Lie were sentenced respectively. After the Lantian Green case in 2017, Wu Xiaolong was arrested again for illegally absorbing public deposits and was sentenced in November 2022.

At Lantian Green, "Huahua" creates a low-key and mysterious image. Many managers of Lantian Green said that they did not know the true identity of "Huahua", and some people mentioned that "the superior of the chairman of the company is a woman named Huahua".

Several investors told Caixin reporters that after "Huahua" fled, many investors gradually learned of Huahua's true identity. "Huahua"'s real name is Qian Zhimin, 46 years old, from Jiangsu, and of ordinary origin. Previously, at the promotion meeting where "Huahua" appeared, "Huahua" wore a mask and a face shield, and investors were not allowed to bring mobile phones into the venue and had to go through security checks to enter. "Huahua" claimed that she graduated from a prestigious university, had two doctorates, and understood financial risk control. Others said that when "Huahua" taught investment and financial management classes, she was eloquent and made the listeners "excited". The partners of Blue Sky Green products said that "Huahua" was very mysterious, often changed WeChat, and could never be contacted.

"Huahua" fled and entered the UK on September 16, 2017, and turned into Zhang Yadi, who was born in 1990. Less than a week after arriving in the UK, she established contact with Wen Jian, who had previously worked in a Chinese takeaway restaurant.

Wen Jian, 42, is from China and went to the UK with her British husband. After the divorce, from 2011 to August 2017, she rented houses in many places in Leeds, the third largest city in the UK. In May 2017, Wen Jian was still looking for job opportunities in Leeds and a town in South Yorkshire. In the summer of 2017, Wen Jian moved to London and initially lived in the basement under the restaurant. Soon, the moment of change came for Wen Jian's situation.

It is impossible to trace how Wen Jian and Zhang Yadi, who is actually Qian Zhimin, established contact or met for the first time. Caijing reporter learned from the relevant materials of Wen Jian's case that on September 21, 2017, Wen Jian sent an email as "Huahua"'s personal assistant to find a house to rent, and said that the tenants included Huahua, her boyfriend and herself. Wen Jian introduced that "Huahua" is a successful jeweler who is engaged in the trade of diamonds, antiques, etc., with business in Japan, Thailand, China, etc., and hopes to expand business in the UK and Switzerland. Huahua's boyfriend may not come because of other business arrangements.

In October 2017, Wen Jian and "Huahua" moved into Hampstead, a wealthy area in northwest London, and lived in a mansion worth nearly 5 million pounds (about 40 million yuan). The house has six bedrooms and the monthly rent is more than 17,000 pounds. The lease agreement shows that Wen Jian and "Huahua" are co-tenants.

A year later, on October 31, 2018, the luxury house rented by Wen Jian and "Hua Hua" in Hampstead was searched for the first time by the London police. When Wen Jian tried to use Bitcoin to buy a property worth tens of millions of pounds and could not prove the source of the Bitcoin, the London police launched an anti-money laundering investigation. When the London police raided the house, "Hua Hua" was lying in an upstairs bedroom. Wen Jian explained to the police that "Hua Hua" had injured her leg in an accident and could not go downstairs. She was "Hua Hua's" caregiver and translator.

In August 2020, the British police searched the Hampstead mansion again. This time, Qian Zhimin was not present and was missing.

Bitcoin Money LaunderingCase

After getting to know "Hua Hua", Wen Jian's life changed, but it also came with corresponding risks.

From 2016 to 2020, Wen Jian's income declared to the British tax authorities showed that in 2016, Wen Jian's income did not exceed 6,000 pounds, zero income in 2017, and no employment record in 2018. But after Wen Jian and Qian Zhimin rented together, their lives changed a lot.

On September 24, 2017, a woman named "YA Zhang" opened a membership account at Harrods, a luxury department store in London, and the account information was changed to Wen Jian the next month. When the membership account was opened for about 3 months, the purchase of multiple pieces of women's branded clothing, shoes, etc. cost 92,000 pounds. In January 2018, Wen Jian bought a Mercedes-Benz car for more than 24,000 pounds. Afterwards, Wen Jian frequently traveled abroad alone or with "Hua Hua". When Wen Jian and "Hua Hua" left the UK together, they would avoid countries that had signed an extradition treaty with China. Wen Jian also exchanged small amounts of Bitcoin in other countries outside the UK and contacted others to explore cryptocurrency trading methods.

Trying to use Bitcoin to buy high-value properties in London is one way that Wen Jian and "Hua Hua" tried to deal with Bitcoin. In November 2017, Wen Jian found a real estate agency in London to find available properties. To buy a house in the UK, you need to hire a lawyer to assist in the transaction process. The buyer must deposit the house price into the account designated by the law firm, and the lawyer hired by the buyer will conduct identity verification and anti-money laundering fund source investigation on the buyer in accordance with relevant anti-money laundering regulations.

Through the relevant information of Wen Jian's case, Caijing reporters learned that in February 2018, "Hua Hua" was attracted by a luxury house worth 23.5 million pounds, and Wen Jian came forward to communicate with real estate agents and lawyers and execute the house purchase process. Wen Jian was introduced to contact a company that can convert Bitcoin into legal currency, and can obtain a report as a source of funds to provide to the lawyer. Subsequently, some bitcoins were transferred to the company as a "transaction test" in exchange for pounds, and the funds were then transferred to the law firm's designated account. Soon, some more bitcoins were converted into pounds and transferred to the law firm's designated account after this operation. The two funds, about 850,000 pounds, were the deposit required to purchase the property. During this process, the lawyer repeatedly asked about the source of funds. Soon, the purchase of the house was not continued because the seller proposed a price increase.

The determination to buy a house was not hindered by this. Wen Jian and "Hua Hua" turned to try to buy another property worth 12.5 million pounds in London. During this period, how to convert a large amount of bitcoins into legal currency remained a major problem. On January 31, 2018, a strict new policy, the Unexplained Wealth Order, came into effect in the UK, aiming to make the target person disclose wealth from unknown sources and effectively combat economic crimes. The lawyer sent the relevant content of the Unexplained Wealth Order to Wen Jian and said that the purchase of the property might require further information on the source of assets. In response, Wen Jian explained that the Bitcoin was "mined by Ms. Zhang" and she was unlikely to provide proof, as Bitcoin was not valuable at the time. After seeking expert advice, the lawyer asked Wen Jian to provide the Bitcoin wallet address in order to verify whether those Bitcoins were generated by "mining". Subsequently, Wen Jian was asked to provide detailed information about "Huahua".

Because these issues were ultimately unresolved, the road to buying a house in the UK was suspended, and Wen Jian then turned his attention to buying a house outside the UK. In Dubai, Wen Jian bought two apartments on behalf of her, and soon after, the transaction was changed again.

In October 2018, the London police contacted Wen Jian by email, informing her that the funds previously transferred to the law firm's designated account had been frozen, and stated that the source of the money might be related to the crime. Wen Jian never responded to the email. In May 2021, Wen Jian was arrested and subsequently prosecuted by the British Crown Prosecution Service. The materials provided to the court by the British Crown Prosecution Service mentioned the Chinese investment fraud case involving the money laundering funds in the case, and the company involved was Blue Sky Green.

During the trial of Wen Jian's case, the defense believed that Wen Jian was not aware that the bitcoins involved in the case came from criminal proceeds, and Wen Jian regretted being involved with Zhang Yadi very much. If it were not for Zhang Yadi, Wen Jian would not have been involved.

On May 24, local time in the UK, Wen Jian was sentenced to 80 months in prison for participating in money laundering. According to the judgment information of Wen Jian's case obtained by Caijing reporters, although the prosecutor had previously filed multiple charges against Wen Jian, the judge determined that Wen Jian participated in money laundering of 150 bitcoins. This is a digital wallet that Wen Jian keeps and controls, with 150 bitcoins credited to his account. Wen Jian converted some of the bitcoins into cash, most of which were laundered through Dubai and Switzerland, and the remaining 33.89 bitcoins were seized by the police. The judgment also mentioned that there was no evidence that Wen Jian was related to the investment fraud case in China.

The British criminal trial for bitcoin money laundering has not yet ended. On May 22, Qian Zhimin, also known as Zhang Yadi, appeared in a British court. This time, another defendant appeared in court with Qian Zhimin, named Senghok Ling. The information of this person is currently unknown. It is reported that the court has scheduled the trial of Qian Zhimin on October 21.

How to recover the stolen money across borders

After paying attention to Qian Zhimin behind Wen Jian's money laundering and the connection with the funds of the Chinese crime case, investors such as Xu Jing and Zheng Jian who suffered financial losses regained hope. However, the bitcoins involved in the case were seized in the UK. Whether they can be recovered across borders and how to recover them are the key issues at present.

According to media reports, the British Crown Prosecution Service has filed a civil recovery procedure with the British High Court for the assets seized by the British side. If it is confirmed that there are no other legal rights holders, these assets will be formally confiscated. To decide how to deal with the proceeds of crime.

In April 2024, after hearing the news, Xu Jing and some investors found the contact email of the British court hearing the Wen Jian case and took the initiative to write to claim their rights. Xu Jing introduced that the investors stated in the letter that they were the rights holders of the bitcoins and assets involved in the Wen Jian and Qian Zhimin cases, and hoped that the British court and other relevant departments would provide investors with a way to declare and recover their losses. Two days after the letter was sent, the British court replied that the letter had been forwarded to the Proceeds of Crime Investigation Department of the British Crown Prosecution Service.

On May 16, the Hedong Branch of the Tianjin Municipal Public Security Bureau issued a case report stating that since it filed an investigation into the case of Tianjin Lantian Ge Rui Electronic Technology Co., Ltd. suspected of illegally absorbing public deposits, it has stepped up its efforts to organize and carry out various tasks. In February 2018, the Tianjin Municipal Public Security Bureau issued a red notice for the main criminal suspect Qian Zhimin through Interpol, launched a global arrest, and continued to cooperate with relevant law enforcement departments of the United Kingdom and other countries in international pursuit and recovery of stolen assets through international law enforcement cooperation channels.

In the Lantian Ge Rui series of cases, Chinese law enforcement agencies have made every effort to recover the stolen money. A batch of assets involved in the case have been frozen and seized according to law, and the work of recovering stolen money and recovering losses has been put on the agenda. Previously, the Lantian Ge Rui case liquidation working group registered the information of fund-raising participants nationwide. An investor told Caijing reporters that he has received two notices of liquidation refunds so far, which is a small part of the amount of his losses.

Regarding the liquidation of the case, on May 16, Caijing reporters called the telephone number previously released by the Tianjin Lantian Ge Rui case liquidation working group. A member of the working group said that investors are requested to "wait patiently".

Huang Feng, professor at the Institute of Criminal Law Science of Beijing Normal University and expert on international pursuit and recovery of stolen money, analyzed to Caijing reporters that in order to increase the recovery of criminal proceeds, the Proceeds of Crime (Recovery) Act promulgated by the United Kingdom introduced two recovery mechanisms, namely the criminal confiscation system for criminal proceeds and the civil recovery for illegal proceeds. The civil recovery procedure is essentially a lawsuit against property, and the recovery is of specific property, including the proceeds obtained through illegal acts and the property prepared for illegal acts. Civil recovery has no direct connection with the criminal procedure. Regardless of whether the crime related to the illegal proceeds is prosecuted, the civil recovery of illegal proceeds can be carried out independently.

Huang Feng said that according to relevant public information, the amount of Bitcoin money laundering involved in the Wen Jian case identified in the criminal lawsuit accounted for a relatively small proportion of the entire Bitcoin case seized, and the UK initiated a civil recovery procedure. According to the corresponding procedures, the legal owner of the property involved has the right to apply for rights after the start of the civil recovery procedure. If the judge examines that it meets the conditions, the property should be excluded from the scope of "recoverable property". Therefore, the investors in the Blue Sky Green case can claim their rights in the UK and recover their losses through civil procedures.

At the same time, Huang Feng pointed out that with Qian Zhimin's return to justice a few days ago and the criminal lawsuit against Qian Zhimin, the Bitcoin and other assets involved in the case can also be recovered through criminal confiscation. Which method to choose remains to be further clarified. If the recovery is through criminal confiscation, China and the UK can cooperate in the field of criminal judicial assistance. According to the Treaty between the People's Republic of China and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on Criminal Judicial Assistance, the requested party holding confiscated assets may return or share the assets or the proceeds of the sale of the assets with the requesting party within the scope permitted by its laws. The conditions for returning or sharing the assets and the proportion of return and sharing shall be agreed upon by both parties.

It is understood that some investors currently hope that relevant Chinese departments will communicate with the British side through judicial assistance and other channels. Some other investors are contacting lawyers with experience in cross-border recovery to discuss possible ways to recover losses through civil procedures. Zheng Jian and other investors hope to try their best to recover or reduce losses through the best means.

Lawyer Zhao Qizhi of Jiren Law Firm, whose team focuses on foreign-related dispute resolution. Recently, Zhao Qizhi told Caixin that while his team was in contact with the investors in the BlueSky Green case, they were also working closely with third-party funding funds, well-known British law firms, Queen's Counsel and cryptocurrency experts to seek possible civil or criminal recourse in the UK to help victims achieve recourse. Recently, Zhao Qizhi's team has received a response from the Economic Crime Division of the British Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) regarding the recovery of assets involved in the case. Zhao Qizhi revealed that the CPS said in its reply that it has learned that a considerable number of people in China have become victims of the initial case and they are trying to recover their losses. In the current criminal proceedings, Jian Wen was found guilty of one crime of money laundering, and the confiscation procedure will be carried out after sentencing, but only for this crime. Other suspects have been charged and criminal proceedings are ongoing. CPS will not discuss the case until the results of the criminal trial are announced. In light of these developments, CPS is considering its position in the civil recovery investigation, which is still ongoing, so CPS will not respond to further information until the case is concluded. His team also consulted CPS on the relationship between civil recovery and criminal confiscation of Bitcoin. CPS said that if part or all of the assets are recovered through civil recovery procedures, whether the UK will share the funds recovered in the UK will be considered in the usual way.

Currently, in response to the cross-border recovery of 61,000 Bitcoins, Ding Jie, director of the Cross-Border Dispute Resolution Committee of Duan He Duan Law Firm, and his team have held preliminary meetings with stakeholders and victims of the Blue Sky Green case to discuss the cross-border recovery plan and strategy of the Blue Sky Green case. Ding Jie and his team previously represented Chinese victims in the cross-border bankruptcy case of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX.

Ding Jie told Caixin reporters that his team has represented some of Blue Sky Green's clients and provided them with preliminary public interest legal advice. It is continuing to follow up on Blue Sky Green's cross-border recovery process. Recently, it has communicated and deliberated with several British law firms to promote the specific implementation of Blue Sky Green's cross-border recovery plan. In order to solve the cost of cross-border claims, his team is contacting international litigation financing institutions to consider whether to introduce internationally popular litigation financing.

The road to cross-border claims still faces many challenges. "Chinese and British lawyers both agree that this case has historic significance," said Ding Jie.