Two convicted after world’s largest cryptocurrency seizure worth £5.5 billion

Two people have been convicted following what is believed to be the world’s largest cryptocurrency seizure, valued at more than £5.5 billion, after a landmark investigation by the Metropolitan Police in London.

Zhimin Qian, 47, also known as Yadi Zhang, pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown Court to offences under the Proceeds of Crime Act, including acquiring and possessing criminal property in the form of cryptocurrency. The following day, Hok Seng Ling, 46, from Derbyshire, admitted to transferring criminal property linked to the case.

The investigation, launched in 2018 by the Met’s Economic Crime Command, uncovered a vast money-laundering operation tied to Qian, who defrauded over 128,000 victims in China between 2014 and 2017. She converted the proceeds into Bitcoin before fleeing to the UK on false documents. Surveillance and intelligence work led police to seize around 61,000 Bitcoin, later traced back to her.

Qian and Ling were arrested in April 2024, with authorities also recovering encrypted devices, cash, gold, and further digital assets worth an additional £11 million.

Senior officers described the case as one of the largest money-laundering and cryptocurrency-related prosecutions ever brought in the UK. Detective Sergeant Isabella Grotto, who led the probe, called it years of painstaking work, while Security Minister Dan Jarvis said the outcome sends a clear message that the UK “will never be a safe haven for criminals and their ill-gotten gains.”

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) confirmed it would pursue confiscation and civil proceedings to ensure the seized cryptoassets cannot be reclaimed by the convicted offenders.

Both defendants are due to be sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on November 10 and 11.