Syed Saif Ul Hassan 
Nov 12, 2025
An undated image. — Adobe Stock
In the largest money laundering case in UK history, Ximen Qian, a 47-year-old Chinese woman, has been sentenced to 11 and a half years in prison after being caught having Bitcoin worth £5 billion.
Known as the 'Goddess of Wealth,' Qian was arrested in April 2024 at an Airbnb in York after nearly five years on the run.
Qian was accused of defrauding billions of yuan in China before entering the UK using a false passport to conceal her wealth through money laundering.
In 2018, police raided her £500,000 home in Hampstead, London, where they seized over 61,000 Bitcoins. This amount of Bitcoin was worth around £150 at the time of her arrest, but it is now valued at over £5 billion.
Prosecutors revealed that from 2014 to 2017, Qian operated a fraudulent investment scheme in China named “Britain Nice Life Insurance,” deceiving over 128,000 individuals and stealing around 40 billion yuan (£4.6 billion). During this period, she fled China via Myanmar and began living a life of luxury in London.
The case outlines the extensive reach of international financial crime and the challenges faced by authorities in tracking and prosecuting such complex schemes.
The long sentence reflects the severity of offences carried out by extreme-minded crypto scammers and aims to prevent similar crimes in future.
