In a high-profile case involving an enormous cryptocurrency fraud, a British-Chinese language girl, Jian Wen, has been sentenced to 6 years and eight months in jail for her function in laundering Bitcoin proceeds from a $6 billion funding rip-off in China.
Wen, aged 42, was discovered responsible in March of laundering Bitcoin on behalf of her former boss, Yadi Zhang, whose actual title is Zhimin Qian.
In keeping with a current report, Qian is alleged to have defrauded round 130,000 traders in China, amassing a whopping $5 billion via an funding rip-off.
Whereas Wen was not accused of direct involvement within the fraud itself, she was convicted of laundering the proceeds by changing the Bitcoin into money and utilizing the funds to buy property, jewellery, and different luxurious gadgets.
In 2018, UK police seized over $2.2 billion price of bitcoin associated to the alleged fraud in a big operation.
Through the trial, Wen’s lawyer claimed that she had been “duped and used” by her boss, asserting that she was unaware of the felony origins of the BTC she was dealing with.
Nonetheless, the decide in Southwark Crown Court docket rejected these and acknowledged immediately that the proof reveals Wen had full information she was laundering felony proceeds.
The decide additionally highlighted the complicated and premeditated nature of Wen’s cash laundering operation.
With felony entities more and more utilizing cryptocurrencies to disguise and switch illicit belongings, UK authorities have vowed to crack down on such actions, with the lead investigator stating that they may “go away no stone unturned” to catch criminals exploiting cryptocurrencies for unlawful functions.
