In brief
- “Professional money launderer” Sen Hok Ling, who helped Zhimin Qian move her funds, has been told he needs to pay back $7.6 million (£5 million) to UK authorities.
- Ling was sentenced to almost five years in November 2025 after pleading guilty on one count of money laundering offences.
- Civil proceedings remain ongoing to determine the fate of Qian’s 61,000 BTC.
The UK’s Crown Prosecution Service has told the one-time financier and fixer of convicted Chinese Bitcoin fraudster Zhimin Qian that he needs to pay back over $7.6 million (£5 million) or risk extra jail time.
Sen Hok Ling, a Malaysian national described by the CPS as a “professional money launderer,” received 83.7 BTC from Qian between February and April 2024, which he cashed out in United Arab Emirates-based bank accounts and through third parties who converted it to cash.
“Ling took part in a sophisticated money laundering operation which laundered many millions of pounds from the proceeds of crime,” said Adrian Foster, Chief Crown Prosecutor of Crown Prosecution Service Proceeds of Crime Division, in a statement.
“We have today secured a Confiscation Order against him of over £5 million, which he must pay within 3 months or risk being returned to prison for an additional sentence of eight years.”
Ling was sentenced to four years and 11 months in prison in November 2025 after pleading guilty to one count of a money laundering related offence. He was sentenced alongside Qian, also known as Yadi Zhang, who received 11 years and eight months following a guilty plea for two money laundering offences.
Zhimin Qian’s Ponzi scheme
Between 2014 and 2017, Qian ran a Ponzi scheme in China through a company called Lantian Gerui, mostly targeting elderly Chinese investors. The scheme conned 128,000 people out of pensions and life savings, many lured in with elaborate banquets and roadshows, as well as guests at the events such as the son-in-law of Chairman Mao. Payouts stopped in 2017. Qian converted some of her ill-gotten gains in crypto and fled the country.
She arrived in the UK with a passport under the name Yadi Zhang and set about reinventing herself. She tried to cash out the Bitcoin and purchase high-end London properties but found herself blocked by know-your-customer requirements, ultimately renting a $21,000-a-month mansion in Hampstead Heath, London instead.
At this time, her diary showed her plotting to rub shoulders with European aristocracy, musing over buying a Swedish castle, becoming friends with a duke and acquiring a British bank. She also harbored ambitions to become “Queen of Liberland,” referring to an unrecognized microstate in the Danube river where Tron founder Justin Sun is prime minister.
Her machinations were, however, cut short when she was arrested in York in April 2024. Raids on her Hampstead mansion uncovered 61,000 BTC, the largest crypto seizure in UK history.
The UK’s $5.4 billion Bitcoin haul
What to do with the coins—currently worth $5.4 billion—remains the subject of debate. Investors in Lantian Gerui didn’t pay in crypto and are estimated to have lost a combined total of $600 million, a fraction of the Bitcoin’s current value.
Civil proceedings are ongoing to decide how the Bitcoin will be disbursed. While victims will need to be reimbursed, the additional funds may end up in the UK Treasury.
Nick Harris, CEO at Crypto Asset Recovery Firm CryptoCare, told Decrypt that the UK’s Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 empowers authorities to seize funds from fraud even if they originate overseas. “The law allows the UK to retain such funds, typically directing them to the Treasury or law enforcement,” he said.
Following the fraudsters’ sentencing, Harris previously suggested the UK could establish a strategic reserve with the funds, “strengthening its position in the global crypto economy while supporting victims through separate compensation mechanisms.”
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Source: https://decrypt.co/355706/professional-money-launderer-ordered-to-pay-uk-7-6m-over-zhimin-qian-case
