Guilty Verdict for Woman Accused of Laundering Bitcoin Tied to Alleged $6B China Fraud: Bloomberg
Police in the U.K. seized over 1.7 billion pounds ($2.2 billion) worth of related bitcoin in 2018.
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- Jian Wen was found guilty of money laundering by a London jury that couldn't reach a decision on two other charges.
- Jian, who denied the allegations, was previously acquitted of other money laundering charges at a separate trial.
A U.K. citizen was found guilty of laundering huge amounts of bitcoin (BTC) for a Chinese fugitive tied to an alleged $6 billion investment fraud, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.
Jian Wen, who denied the allegations, helped her former employer launder the funds between 2017 and 2022, a London jury found. The jury couldn't reach a decision on two other charges. The 42-year-old had previously been acquitted of other money laundering charges at a separate trial.
Police in the U.K. seized over 1.7 billion pounds ($2.2 billion) worth of bitcoin related to the alleged fraud in a 2018 operation. Jian Wen was accused of laundering BTC on behalf of her former employer, Yadi Zhang, whose real name is Zhimin Qian.
Zhimian is said to have duped around 130,000 investors in China in an investment scam that prosecutors estimated brought in almost $6 billion.
Jian will be sentenced on May 10.
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Jamie Crawley is a CoinDesk news reporter based in London.