Chinese ‘Cryptoqueen’ who hid £5bn in bitcoin set to be sentenced in UK

A Chinese woman named Qian Zhimin, famously known as the “Cryptoqueen”, who fled China for the United Kingdom, is set to be sentenced this week for stashing cryptocurrency worth over £5bn.

The infamous Cryptoqueen embezzled funds from more than 100,000 Chinese investors through a “fake” company that claimed to build high-tech health products and crypto-mining, promising investors to make them rich as they do nothing.

According to the BBC, Zhimin moved to the UK using a fake passport in 2017 and rented a luxury mansion in Hampstead, north London, at $22,700 a month.

To afford her luxury living, the cryptoqueen had to convert bitcoin into spendable assets. She hired an assistant, Wen Jian, to convert her assets into cash and real estate.

Zhimin’s attempt to buy multi-million-pound property in Totteridge Common triggered a police investigation, ultimately resulting in her arrest.

The police later made the world’s largest crypto currency seizure after raiding her mansion in Hampstead, north London. As the sentencing nears, the Chinese citizens are hoping to get some of their funds back from U.K. authorities.

The cryptoqueen had outlined plans for the next six years if nothing bad happened, which included, founding an international bank, buying a swedish castle and even becoming the queen of Liberland.

For context, Liberland is an unrecognised microstate located on the Croatian-Serbian border, reports BBC.

However, her plans failed and now she is set to be sentenced for her crimes this week.