According to the Financial Times publication, between 2014 and 2017, Qian’s firm lured Chinese savers with promises of high returns, ultimately siphoning off roughly RMB 40 billion (some US$5.6 billion) from more than 128,000 people. Much of the illicit proceeds were converted into some 61,000 bitcoins, one of the largest crypto seizures ever recovered by UK authorities.

As scrutiny from Chinese regulators mounted, Qian fled China via Myanmar and Southeast Asia, arriving in the UK under a false identity in 2017, as reported by the Financial Times. Once in the UK, she attempted to launder her assets by renting luxury homes (including a London property for more than £17,000/month) and shopping lavishly, before her arrest in April 2024 in York.

At her sentencing at Southwark Crown Court, Judge Sally‑Ann Hales told Qian she was “the architect of this offending from its inception to its conclusion … your motive was one of pure greed.” Qian pleaded guilty in September to two counts of money laundering under the Proceeds of Crime Act, namely acquiring and possessing criminal property derived from the fraud.

The fraud’s ripple effects are still being felt: thousands of Chinese investors lost life savings, pensions and homes, while UK authorities now face the complex task of managing the seized crypto assets and compensating the victims.