The Underlying Chinese in the UK's Largest Bitcoin Money Laundering Case: Billions in Fraudulent Proceeds and a "Comeback Life"

Author: Yu Wufei, Xu Jingjing, Sanlian Life Weekly

On March 18 local time in the UK, 42-year-old British Chinese Jian Wen was found by a British court to have "participated in arranging money laundering," which could result in a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison. Jian Wen's defense lawyer, Mark Harries, informed this publication that due to the judge's busy schedule, the British court has postponed the final sentencing for Jian Wen, originally scheduled for May 10, to May 24.

Jian Wen served as the "housekeeper and translator" for Qian Zhimin, who deceived over 120,000 Chinese investors. On April 24 local time, Qian Zhimin appeared in court in London. She is accused of obtaining, using, or holding cryptocurrency related to criminal activities from October 1, 2017, to April 23, 2024, in London and other parts of the UK, with these cryptocurrencies originating from her massive economic fraud conducted within China.

During the investigation of Jian and Qian, the British police seized over 61,000 bitcoins, marking the largest cryptocurrency seizure in the UK to date (valued at approximately £3.06 billion based on the exchange rate of about £50,190 per bitcoin on May 10).

Jian Wen, born into an ordinary family in China, moved to the UK in 2007. She has done various physical jobs and has long hoped to achieve social mobility through legitimate channels overseas. Throughout the six-year investigation and two-year trial, one question has persisted: Did Jian Wen willingly become an accomplice of an international fraudster to change her fate in a foreign land, or was she manipulated into becoming a victim?

Encounter

In August 2017, a Chinese takeaway restaurant in Abbey Wood, a southeastern community of London, welcomed a new employee. 36-year-old Jian Wen moved from Leeds, marking her tenth year of struggle in the UK.

Jian Wen herself (Photo | British Police)

During these ten years, Jian Wen moved around various parts of the UK. According to Sky News, in 2007, at the age of 26 and seven months pregnant, Jian Wen arrived in the small rural town of Halifax in northern England with a spousal visa, accompanied by her British husband whom she met in China.

Halifax has a population of 80,000, with its town center filled with 19th-century Victorian architecture. To the British, it represents affordable quality living and pastoral scenery. However, according to Jian Wen's account, life there was not happy. Her husband had a strong controlling tendency and abusive inclinations, and they eventually divorced in 2010, with Jian Wen taking care of their child. That same year, she sent her child back to China and moved to Leeds, 30 kilometers away.

Leeds is the nearest large city to Halifax, with a larger Chinese community. Jian Wen immersed herself in the Chinese labor circle, taking on various physical jobs to make ends meet. The Crown Prosecution Service's "Opening Notes" submitted to the court show that Jian Wen worked mostly at Chinese takeaway shops in Leeds and frequently moved. In just 2011, she changed residences three times: from an attic above a takeaway shop, to an annex of another takeaway shop, and then sharing a room with colleagues in a cheap apartment building.

Such a hand-to-mouth, unstable lifestyle was clearly not what Jian Wen had anticipated. Before meeting her ex-husband in China, Jian Wen had obtained a law degree from a university in China. She also had grander aspirations. A London real estate agent, Jackson, recalled that Jian Wen expressed a strong desire to become a lawyer. In Leeds, Jian Wen did not give up on the possibility of upward mobility. Despite the hardships reported by Sky News, she obtained a bachelor's degree in economics and took some law courses.

Photo | Sky News Twitter

However, these efforts did not seem to reflect in her income. Statistics from the UK tax department show that in 2015, Jian Wen was still working at a Chinese takeaway, declaring an annual income of £12,800 (approximately 116,000 RMB at current exchange rates); in 2016, she switched to a trading company importing goods from China, but her declared income shrank to £5,979 (approximately 54,200 RMB).

Perhaps out of a fantasy for wealth, Jian Wen also dabbled in the booming Bitcoin market. From December 30, 2016, to May 26, 2017, the price of one bitcoin rose from £788 to £1,639, more than doubling in value. Riding this wave, at the end of May 2017, Jian Wen registered accounts on two Bitcoin trading platforms headquartered in the UK and Denmark.

Moving to Abbey Wood, which is part of London but has a lower cost of living, was another effort by Jian Wen. Li Ting, who worked at a Chinese takeaway in the community, told this publication that employees and owners at the local Chinese takeaways "come and go quickly, and generally, no one knows each other." Everyone treats it as a stepping stone, looking for better-paying job opportunities through fellow villagers, friends, and WeChat groups for job introductions.

Like many Chinese, Jian Wen was also in a WeChat group connecting Chinese job seekers. According to her testimony in court, within a month of moving to London in August 2017, she applied for dozens of jobs. In mid-September 2017, Jian Wen saw an advertisement in the group looking for a Chinese assistant and directly called the number listed in the ad. The voice on the other end instructed Jian Wen to go for an interview with the employer at the Royal Garden Hotel, a five-star hotel located on one of London’s main shopping streets.

At the Royal Garden Hotel, Jian Wen met "Zhang Yadi" for the first time. "Zhang Yadi" held a passport from the Caribbean nation of Saint Kitts and Nevis but had a Chinese appearance. Jian Wen testified in court that she noticed "Zhang Yadi" had a disability in her leg from a car accident and was breathing heavily, but she was dressed in traditional Thai attire, looked very young, and had delicate skin. Zhang Yadi told her that she owned a multinational jewelry business and wanted to open a store in the UK, hoping Jian Wen would be her "housekeeper and translator," helping her buy new clothes, open a bank account, and find accommodation.

Jian Wen and her legal team later emphasized in court that she believed this was a good opportunity to change her fate. Indeed, saying goodbye to the takeaway shop, Jian Wen entered another world in London.

Every month, "Zhang Yadi" paid Jian Wen £4,000 in cash. Less than three weeks after they met, they moved into a six-bedroom mansion in Hampstead, a wealthy area in north London, with a monthly rent of £17,300. Hampstead, adorned with ponds and greenery, not only has the highest number of millionaires in the UK and some of the most expensive houses but is also famous for its artistic atmosphere, celebrity residences, restaurants, and cafes.

At the globally renowned luxury department store Harrods, Jian Wen registered as a member and purchased several items from well-known designers worth over £92,500 between September and December 2017. After becoming a "housekeeper," Jian Wen once vented in her diary: "Fxxx u. The person who said 'you're poor': Watch me how I grow millions!!!"

The Beginning

According to records from the UK prosecution, just two or three days before meeting Jian Wen, Qian Zhimin entered London in September 2017 with a passport from Saint Kitts and Nevis. In the UK, Qian Zhimin transformed from a 1978-born individual into "Zhang Yadi," born in Hubei, China in 1990, with short black hair and fair skin.

Photo | Sky News Twitter

In 2017, Chinese police cracked down on the "Blue Sky Ge Rui Case" in Tianjin. According to reports from the Chinese police, Blue Sky Ge Rui Company, established in 2014, promoted projects and products under the slogan "Give Ge Rui three years, and Ge Rui will give you three generations of wealth," attracting over 120,000 investors by 2017, with involved funds reaching 43 billion RMB. After the Chinese police began investigating this illegal fundraising case, more than ten individuals were convicted. Qian Zhimin was a key fugitive in this case.

According to documents obtained by the Financial Times from the UK court, Qian Zhimin's escape was aided by several individuals, including a Chinese citizen named "Zhang Yadi." In July 2017, Qian obtained a passport from Saint Kitts and Nevis using Zhang's identity. According to the official website of the Saint Kitts and Nevis government, one can obtain a passport from the country by donating $150,000 to the government's "Sustainable Development Fund" or investing in real estate, without the need to reside or visit, and wait three months; holding the passport allows visa-free travel to 155 countries and regions, including the UK, Ireland, and Russia. A month later, Qian obtained a fake Myanmar passport under the name Nan Yin and used multiple identities to travel to Laos, evading capture by Chinese authorities.

During the trial, Jian Wen stated that at that time, she had no idea of the true identity of the generous "Zhang Yadi." "Zhang Yadi" asked everyone to call her "Emma," "Rose," and "Hua Hua." In the words of those who participated in the Blue Sky Ge Rui investment from 2014 to 2017, "Hua Hua" was indeed Qian Zhimin's alias.

When entering the UK, "Zhang Yadi" carried a Lenovo laptop. The UK prosecution stated that she had already converted most of the investors' funds into Bitcoin, stored on multiple computers.

Photo | Shetu Network

After establishing a stable residence in London, Qian Zhimin urgently needed to convert her Bitcoin into other valuable assets. She also turned her attention to real estate in London's luxury areas. At that time, there were some media reports in Europe and America about people directly buying houses with Bitcoin in the UK property market, and Jackson, who had been in the real estate business in wealthy areas of London for over 20 years, was one of them. He and some friends noticed that in 2017, more and more tech entrepreneurs and wealthy individuals were moving to London, and they wanted to attract their business. In early October that year, they listed a mansion worth £24 million on the market, stating that clients could only pay with Bitcoin.

At that time, European and American media rushed to report that this was London's first "Bitcoin property." "BBC, CNBC, Sky News, ITV (Independent Television) and other media stayed in our office for several days. But we knew that due to tax, land registration, and other practical issues, it was still too early to actually talk about buying a house with Bitcoin," Jackson recalled. However, from a public relations perspective, their gimmick was a great success, attracting many wealthy individuals who came to them after hearing about it, ultimately developing them into clients.

Among the many inquiry emails Jackson received, one was from Jian Wen. The email mentioned that Jian Wen was a public relations officer for an international jewelry trading company, and her boss had read the news about the "Bitcoin property" and held enough Bitcoin to purchase real estate. After explaining that "directly using Bitcoin to buy a house is still unrealistic," he began recommending some qualified institutions to Jian Wen that could convert Bitcoin into pounds and introduced her to several top law firms in the UK that could verify financial sources.

In his 20-plus years of professional experience, Jackson had encountered many potential buyers with "dirty money." However, at the beginning, he did not think Jian Wen and the jewelry company she represented were such individuals but rather "quality clients."

This judgment based on experience largely stemmed from Jian Wen's openness in various aspects. Jackson said that to ensure compliance in the transaction, Jian Wen specifically visited his office, during which they discussed her aspirations for the future. He recalled Jian Wen saying, "She had some difficulties with her ex-husband, and her son was far away from her," "She had just been working at a takeaway, but she never gave up on studying," and "She hoped to become a lawyer in the future and wished her child could return to her soon."

Still from "Stock Crazy"

"She had nothing to hide, like an open book," Jackson said. "She even agreed to hire a top British investigation company to prove that the Bitcoins held by her company were mined by themselves and even suggested whether to find a top investigation company in the US. If you know these Bitcoins were stolen, wouldn't that be like committing suicide?"

In the following month, Jackson took Jian Wen to view houses three times in wealthy areas of northwest London by taxi, looking at about ten residences each time. On two occasions, Qian Zhimin also accompanied them. In Jackson's impression, Qian Zhimin was short and plump, moving slowly, appearing "very polite, repeatedly saying 'thank you for everything arranged'." However, they could not communicate directly because Qian Zhimin did not understand English and needed Jian Wen to relay everything, and she was "very careful to protect her privacy."

Jian Wen took great care of the mobility-impaired and language-challenged Qian Zhimin. Upon arriving at each residence, Jian Wen would assist Qian Zhimin in and out of the taxi, help her navigate the few steps at the entrance, and repeatedly ask in a gentle tone what else she needed. If Qian Zhimin was reluctant to go upstairs, Jian Wen would go upstairs with Jackson to tour and then report back to Qian Zhimin in detail.

Jackson remembered that Qian Zhimin was very fond of a three-story detached villa listed for £23.5 million. It was located next to a tree-lined avenue, resembling a castle, with eight bedrooms and an indoor swimming pool. On the first floor of the house, Qian Zhimin even showed Jackson her "largest Bitcoin mining system spread across different countries." After expressing her gratitude through Jian Wen, Qian Zhimin also said, "I plan to invest £500 million in the UK. I hope this is just the beginning."

"Jian Wen wanted to do everything perfectly—even compliance," Jackson recalled, noting Jian Wen's suggestions and meticulous care for Qian Zhimin. "She seemed unaware that her employer had other intentions; I didn't realize it at the time. Like an employee who always says 'good, good, good' to the boss, she was too easily manipulated."

The Vortex

After the smooth house viewings, selling the house hit a deadlock. Jackson recalled that during the subsequent identity verification and proof of funds stages, "Jian Wen kept urging her boss, but her boss kept dragging her feet."

In January 2023, Jian Wen first appeared in the defendant's seat, wearing a loose formal jacket, with oversized glasses nearly covering her entire face. During the subsequent five weeks of trial, she cried several times, stating that she had not realized she was being manipulated. Jian Wen's defense lawyer, Mark Harries, stated during the trial that Jian Wen was "an unknown individual," "desperately trying to escape her past life," and she may have genuinely trusted "Zhang Yadi." "The person who pulled her out of the kitchen and then placed her in a £4 million house in Hampstead."

Qian Zhimin was indeed a shrewd habitual offender who understood how to manipulate people's hearts. Shortly after the establishment of Blue Sky Ge Rui in 2014, Qian Zhimin successfully persuaded employee Ren Jiangtao to become the sole shareholder and legal representative of the company with high salaries and generous bonuses. This was also a significant reason why Qian Zhimin managed to escape abroad after the case broke.

Still from "Infernal Affairs: This Love is Justice"

However, Jian Wen did have doubts about this suddenly generous and well-paying job. She once typed the keywords "money laundering meaning" into a search engine. In December 2017, she also asked an accountant friend whether she should help a "friend" transfer £2 million from Bitcoin transactions to a private account. She said the response she received was that this could trigger an anti-money laundering investigation, and she did not proceed with it.

Despite her suspicions, the allure of this job was irresistible to Jian Wen. Her life in London improved significantly. In 2018, after 11 years in the UK, Jian Wen officially became a British citizen, and her son was also brought over to attend a private school with an annual tuition of £6,000. The mother and son were reunited.

Jian Wen's mansion (Photo | British Police)

In the first half of 2018, the price of Bitcoin soared against the pound, reaching over £5,500 per Bitcoin by May 2018, more than tripling since May 2017. Meanwhile, the two also targeted more real estate. In addition to the £23.5 million mansion, Jian Wen also attempted to help Qian Zhimin purchase two properties worth £4.5 million and £12.5 million, respectively.

However, the difficulty of the "housekeeper" job increased simultaneously, as Jian and Qian faced numerous obstacles in converting Bitcoin into pounds and passing the scrutiny for purchasing real estate.

Nicholas Ryder, a professor of financial crime law at Cardiff University, who has served as an advisor to EU and UK government departments, told this publication: "Bitcoin, as a financial innovation, is more inclusive, benefiting more people without bank accounts; but its extremely high anonymity also makes it a favorite for fraud and terrorists. Because theoretically, it makes it harder for real money launderers to be detected." However, increasingly advanced tracking and tracing technologies, along with the UK tax department's statistics on everyone's income status, made it nearly impossible to conduct large-scale Bitcoin exchanges in the UK without being noticed.

To this end, Jian Wen traveled to more than ten European countries, including Austria, the Czech Republic, and Switzerland, in the first eight months of 2018. She purchased jewelry worth tens of thousands of pounds locally and exchanged small amounts of Bitcoin for local currency both online and offline. Sometimes, Qian Zhimin would accompany her, but the two hardly left any photos together. During her travels with Qian Zhimin, Jian Wen also typed keywords like "China extradition treaty Sweden" into search engines. Additionally, Jian Wen made two round trips to Thailand, each time bringing back new laptops. In subsequent investigations, police found information related to Qian Zhimin's cryptocurrency wallets on the computers. All signs indicated that she was not unaware of the trouble she was getting into.

Jian Wen's jewelry purchase receipt (Photo | British Police)

Exchanging small amounts of Bitcoin was not enough to quickly gather the funds needed to purchase three properties. During her travels, Jian Wen met the owner of a problematic brokerage firm through her mixed network. This firm had obtained certification from the UK's Financial Conduct Authority but was willing to exchange Bitcoin for cash without much inquiry and directly provided a funding source report suitable for property purchases. The owner converted the Bitcoin Jian Wen provided into £850,000, which was about to be used as a deposit for purchasing a house.

Jian Wen transferred the £850,000 to a well-known law firm recommended by Jackson, and the funds verification process began immediately. Two British professors who study real estate and economic crime told this publication that in the UK, during each property purchase, the buyer and seller are not allowed to transfer money directly to each other but must go through their respective lawyers, with the law firms representing both parties transferring money to complete the transaction. Jackson said, "A client can say a lot and show a lot, but when it comes to the transaction stage, you must find a law firm and undergo identity and source of funds verification through the firm."

Subsequently, Jian Wen's communication with the lawyers repeatedly showed hesitation, and there were inconsistencies in the timeline. According to the prosecution's investigation records, in April 2018, Jian Wen told the law firm that the money she used to pay part of the house price came from Bitcoin "mined by Zhang Yadi and gifted to herself." She also prepared a notarized document stating that she received 3,000 bitcoins.

However, the law firm was not satisfied with such an explanation. In an email, the law firm mentioned to Jian Wen the newly introduced Unexplained Wealth Order in 2017. This meant that UK authorities could inquire about the source of funds used to purchase specific assets. If unable to explain, the buyer could completely lose the asset and face investigation.

The purpose of this law's introduction was to combat the illicit funds of oligarchs from West Asia and Eastern Europe and terrorist organizations hiding in London, supplementing and strengthening the anti-money laundering regulations established in 2003. Professor Ryder told this publication that multiple independent studies have shown that the UK has the best anti-money laundering legal framework in the world. The 2003 legal framework set passive criminal liability for relevant financial institutions in preventing money laundering crimes, while the Unexplained Wealth Order requires banks, law firms, real estate agents, and other institutions across the UK to more proactively understand their clients and their sources of funds and report any potential risks.

According to the prosecution report, in response to the law firm's inquiries, Jian Wen stated in July 2018 that "Zhang Yadi" could not provide the source of the Bitcoin for security reasons. Under further questioning, Jian Wen mentioned that if this was one of the requirements for purchasing a house, they would not intend to continue. Subsequently, Jian Wen shifted to Dubai, where she exchanged local currency and purchased two properties.

However, the £850,000 transfer still attracted the attention of the Metropolitan Police's anti-money laundering detectives. According to the Financial Times, on October 31, 2018, after seizing this transfer, the British police arrived at Jian Wen and Qian Zhimin's residence with a search warrant. A few hours later, police seized multiple laptops, including the one Qian Zhimin carried when entering the UK. In addition, confiscated items included several notebooks, £70,000 in cash, a pink USB drive containing various keys, and a handwritten note with a string of passwords.

In August 2020, when police returned to the residence for a second search, they had already prepared to terminate the lease, and Qian Zhimin had fled. According to police records, Jian Wen retained a £40,000 rental deposit and a Mercedes E-Class car. Later, Jian Wen told the court that she had not seen Qian Zhimin since August 25, 2020.

Cash discovered by police at Jian Wen's home (Photo | British Police)

In May 2021, two and a half years after the first search, police arrested Jian Wen. Ryder told this publication that considering the protection of personal privacy and a shortage of investigators, it is not uncommon in the UK for investigations into "white-collar crime" to take years from arrest to prosecution. Through the seized evidence, police tracked and unlocked multiple Bitcoin wallets belonging to Qian Zhimin, containing over 61,000 bitcoins in total.

Jian Wen was arrested in a two-bedroom apartment in south London. She had returned to work at a restaurant and was living with her son. In the apartment, police found a handwritten note: "I'll be dead if they break the BTC code."