[Bitcoin] woman found with £2bn worth of bitcoin

[coolcoinz]

There are plenty of articles that explain more, such as this CoinDesk article:

Wen was accused of laundering BTC on behalf of Yadi Zhang, whose real name is Zhimin Qian.

Zhimian is alleged to have defrauded around 130,000 investors in China in an investment scam that brought in $5 billion.

Damn!

How do you get people to give you 5 billion dollars? I've seen some ponzi schemes and scams but they were usually in the millions, not billions. Even the famous Charles Ponzi stole $15 million.

She was delusional if she thought she could launder that much money. It's easy to hide $100k and not pay taxes from it, but once you start getting into millions it becomes much harder because expensive assets like real estate and cars can be registered. Someone has to pay property tax, get the required paperwork. You can't have 10 different names to hide 10 purchases because that's eventually going to come to light. You get into 100m+ and it becomes close to impossible.

[Renampun]

"Jian Wen, 42, was involved in converting Bitcoin into assets like luxury houses.

This link has very little information and you can get more detail there.
Woman found with £2bn in Bitcoin convicted of money laundering arrangement offence

This gives some more information but still not clear enough. Information like she claims to get money from Bitcoin mining, then buy luxury things, jewellery from her illegal money.

I don't see the article has details about here criminal activities, maybe more details will come later when government completes their investigation on this case.

it's impossible for him to get caught because because of the cases mentioned above, usually money laundering is always connected to dirty businesses such as money from jui business, official corruption and illegal transactions (drugs or weapons) but I'm sure the media is deliberately deviating a little because they get some small money catch. Bitcoin mining is not a serious crime, even in countries that prohibit Bitcoin mining, so a light warning should be given to the perpetrator.

[batang_bitcoin]

Damn!

How do you get people to give you 5 billion dollars? I've seen some ponzi schemes and scams but they were usually in the millions, not billions. Even the famous Charles Ponzi stole $15 million.

Probably this is a big syndicate that have rotated in China. And even though they've got a lot of money, they haven't been aware of the red flags of these ponzi scams that have been offered to them.

She was delusional if she thought she could launder that much money. It's easy to hide $100k and not pay taxes from it, but once you start getting into millions it becomes much harder because expensive assets like real estate and cars can be registered. Someone has to pay property tax, get the required paperwork.

That is what typically they do, it's a big network of these fraudsters and money launderers. And it's true, they will still be required to sign papers.

You can't have 10 different names to hide 10 purchases because that's eventually going to come to light. You get into 100m+ and it becomes close to impossible.

And what the next thing they do is to hire a dummy, a dummy that will serve as owners of those. I think this is common for most mafias and big scam networks.

[Kemarit]

There are plenty of articles that explain more, such as this CoinDesk article:

Wen was accused of laundering BTC on behalf of Yadi Zhang, whose real name is Zhimin Qian.

Zhimian is alleged to have defrauded around 130,000 investors in China in an investment scam that brought in $5 billion.

Damn!

How do you get people to give you 5 billion dollars? I've seen some ponzi schemes and scams but they were usually in the millions, not billions. Even the famous Charles Ponzi stole $15 million.

She was delusional if she thought she could launder that much money. It's easy to hide $100k and not pay taxes from it, but once you start getting into millions it becomes much harder because expensive assets like real estate and cars can be registered. Someone has to pay property tax, get the required paperwork. You can't have 10 different names to hide 10 purchases because that's eventually going to come to light. You get into 100m+ and it becomes close to impossible.

Well she has a boss who duped a lot of Chinese businessman and then run away. And then this person uses the woman, a Chinese-British to help in laundering this huge amount of Bitcoin. This man was already convicted last March.

Wen admitted to being control of a bitcoin wallet on behalf of her boss but claimed that she was unaware where the contents had come from.

https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/05/24/british-chinese-money-launder-sentenced-to-6-years-in-prison-for-role-in-6b-fraud-ft/

And she got what his boss got as well, guilty and six year and eight months in prison sentence.

[nelson4lov]

Her prison sentence definitely serves her right. She definitely knew what she was doing when she was laundering money for her boss so she has to get their own fair share of punishments now that shit has hit the fan. Soon, we're going to realize that some of the richest bitcoiners/crypto folks we see in CT or any other crypto communities amass those assets from non-legal means. We're not set for that story.

Hopefully those monies will be returned tl the defrauded victims.

[GbitG]

Sigh, the medias always use Bitcoin as a headline, reading the title it sounds like Bitcoin should be blamed since it was being used for money laundering.

~
Money laundering is happening since a long time and fiat is the main instrument for such illegal acts. There are countries like Switzerland, Cyprus or Cayman Islands whose economy is built on laundered money. No one talks about them!

Unfortunately the media wants attention by creating attention regarding things like Bitcoin and cryptocurrency.

Yep mate !
Exactly media is just highlighting only Bitcoin Despite Money Laundering is happened in Fiat currency more than Bitcoin.

Here we can clearly see that the world top money laundering cases are just found in fiat currency rather than Bitcoin. But instead of Fiat currency they are just putting the whole blame on Bitcoin. So this shows that these people are bent on defaming Bitcoin. 
 
But here I will give an anti-venom response to these fiat lovers regarding blaming Bitcoin that fiat lovers have been late, Bitcoin has already given so much damage to their poor concept which was supposed to be worthless in the public eye, by the hand of Satoshi. Now blame Bitcoin no matter how much you say. But Bitcoin is not going to stop everyone from liking to take Bitcoin as compared to fiat and in future more people will adopt Bitcoin. 

So the accusation of money laundering cannot undermine Bitcoin. Those who know prefer Bitcoin over fiat currency.

[oktana]

£2bn is quite a lot of money. And it’s sad that now she gets to face the consequences while the real owner of the money is anonymous. I am trying to imagine what form of business that produced such amount of money because I think it’s more than trying to launder money. It could be stolen money which makes sense why it is laundered. It doesn’t always have to be tax evasion.

[PX-Z]

That news article is a terrible journalism from bbc, i wonder if it should be called a news on their behalf.

Good thing there are other news outlets. Well, this is just click bait bad image for bitcoin. Anyway, investments fraud with that amount will always haunt you all over the world, good thing they were caught already, it's a karma point to all scammers.

[boyptc]

Her prison sentence definitely serves her right. She definitely knew what she was doing when she was laundering money for her boss so she has to get their own fair share of punishments now that shit has hit the fan. Soon, we're going to realize that some of the richest bitcoiners/crypto folks we see in CT or any other crypto communities amass those assets from non-legal means. We're not set for that story.

I'm sure that she's getting a good compensation with that. But she can literally stomach that money that others have worked hard for even though she's just a worker.

Even if she denies, her story isn't convincing and the background of her work surely gave her an idea on how the process goes with all of those conversion.

Hopefully those monies will be returned tl the defrauded victims.

I second that, the hardworking people regardless of the race deserves their own money that they sweat and worked for.

[LoyceV]

How do you get people to give you 5 billion dollars?

I guess it's one of those things that got out of hand I'd estimate there are thousands if not millions of scammers, all trying to hit it big. This one hit the jackpot, and that was probably unexpected. This painted a bullseye on her back. Getting away with stealing $100 is a lot easier than getting away with stealing a billion.

I've seen some ponzi schemes and scams but they were usually in the millions, not billions. Even the famous Charles Ponzi stole $15 million.

Now add a century of inflation and the internet! Mr. Ponzi did this offline.

It's easy to hide $100k and not pay taxes from it

Speaking from experience?

[Fiasem20]

Most criminals get it wrong by involving in crime linked to money laundering in BTC [the Blockchain network is transparent that criminal activities can easily be dictated].£2bn that's a huge amount of money,the news gave a different headline that was far from holding for the long term,she was involved in a criminal act that wasn't mentioned but was linked to money laundering or could it be tax evasion no one knows.I've been coming across news about crime linked to money laundering in BTC and how they have been traced,that should give the government more impression that the Blockchain network is transparent.

[GbitG]

What I am wondering about is why did she have to launder the money? Is it because she did not want to pay taxes? I would be interested to hear how she got that €2bn worth of bitcoin. How did she start? Did she just hold for a really long time? And a lot of other questions. Anyway it’s a shame to have finally all that amount of money just to go to jail.

There is nothing surprising about it. You probably know how money laundering is done. If you don't know, then there is nothing. Let me tell you that money laundering is a process by which people take money from illegal activities. It is converted into assets that appear to be the owner of them, which means that the illegal cash is converted into such things, i.e. smuggled, that it is believed that the launderer is the real owner. In spite of that he is not the real owner of it. 
 
Similarly, the same woman also laundered illegal Bitcoin and bought Luxury's car, jewelry, and house so that illegal Bitcoin could be converted into a ligimate (Valuable) asset. 
  
And if there is a surprising thing, then it is not written in the news that this woman collected this Bitcoin, it is only mentioned that Bitcoin is money laundered in jewelry houses and cars. If anyone knows, please guide her. How did the woman get this Bitcoin?

[AmoreJaz]

What I am wondering about is why did she have to launder the money? Is it because she did not want to pay taxes? I would be interested to hear how she got that €2bn worth of bitcoin. How did she start? Did she just hold for a really long time? And a lot of other questions. Anyway it’s a shame to have finally all that amount of money just to go to jail.

There is nothing surprising about it. You probably know how money laundering is done. If you don't know, then there is nothing. Let me tell you that money laundering is a process by which people take money from illegal activities. It is converted into assets that appear to be the owner of them, which means that the illegal cash is converted into such things, i.e. smuggled, that it is believed that the launderer is the real owner. In spite of that he is not the real owner of it.
 
Similarly, the same woman also laundered illegal Bitcoin and bought Luxury's car, jewelry, and house so that illegal Bitcoin could be converted into a ligimate (Valuable) asset.
  
And if there is a surprising thing, then it is not written in the news that this woman collected this Bitcoin, it is only mentioned that Bitcoin is money laundered in jewelry houses and cars. If anyone knows, please guide her. How did the woman get this Bitcoin?

I believe this woman is not operating on her own. If they are into bitcoin, they should know better how to handle privacy and other things. She may have flaunt what she's doing, hence, being hot on authorities. Because authorities won't come to this conclusion if they haven't done their homework first. So for me, she may be under investigation before they found her about her crypto activities. Now, if she has no proper documents to support her assets, definitely, she will be subjected UK laws regarding money laundering.

[PrivacyG]

However, six years and eight months for $5 Billion is a good deal, she might not able to earn $5 Billion even she work very hard for seven years.

This is what I was thinking.  Make Billions fraudulently, get a few years of jail time and you are out, free and ultra Rich too.  It could sound like a viable plan to many people to be honest.  Every day in prison for her is equal to 200 thousand Dollars.  Now my question is, does she get to keep it or is it a permanent seizure?  If anything, the Law in at least a few countries seems to pretty much encourage this behavior by being so easy on them.  At least seize the goods or illegal Wealth.

Anyway.  This is a surprisingly small punishment particularly considering this was a Bitcoin related crime.  They typically seem to want to make those people an example to us.  Or maybe the regulations became so rough for us Bitcoiners that they just do not even need to make examples any more.

-----

I believe this woman is not operating on her own.

She is not, there are others who shared this information already,

Wen was accused of laundering BTC on behalf of Yadi Zhang, whose real name is Zhimin Qian.

Zhimian is alleged to have defrauded around 130,000 investors in China in an investment scam that brought in $5 billion.

[coolcoinz]

I guess it's one of those things that got out of hand I'd estimate there are thousands if not millions of scammers, all trying to hit it big. This one hit the jackpot, and that was probably unexpected. This painted a bullseye on her back. Getting away with stealing $100 is a lot easier than getting away with stealing a billion.

She acted like there was no bullseye and still bought a ton of expensive stuff instead of laying low.

Now add a century of inflation and the internet! Mr. Ponzi did this offline.

Madoff also was doing most of his work via phone.

Speaking from experience?

Sure, I do. Need help with anything?
Fun fact: The bigger is your sandbox, the easier it is to hide another bag of sand.

[LoyceV]

Fun fact: The bigger is your sandbox, the easier it is to hide another bag of sand.

I like your analogy. But, if you have a sandbox, would you really risk it all for one more bag of sand?
In this case, I assume the woman didn't have any sand and stole a desert

[angrybirdy]

What I am wondering about is why did she have to launder the money? Is it because she did not want to pay taxes? I would be interested to hear how she got that €2bn worth of bitcoin. How did she start? Did she just hold for a really long time? And a lot of other questions. Anyway it’s a shame to have finally all that amount of money just to go to jail.

A possible reason is the avoidance of tax payment, but if I were the one in the situation, I would go through it legally, especially since there is a lot of money involved in this, it can be questioned anytime and it will be more difficult to prove it, especially if the documents to be shown are lacking him in court. With such a large amount of investment, what is the value that will be paid in tax, right? if this is the reason, I hope he pays instead of getting into a worse situation. I don't want to assume or accuse, but if the reason is not tax avoidance, maybe it's because the money came from illegal things and crypto investment was just used as an excuse?

[Woodie]

She had a successful operation if ask me lol, btw this $2 billion is what they managed to seize from her in the UK meaning there is a possibility she might have had more Bitcoins elsewhere considering she traveled  around boarders and had other properties in places like Switzerland , Dubai etc. This got me thinking is it possible that we haven't heard of  Satoshi because he might have been bursted in this way after been found with a stash of coins **thinking  outside the box **

Anyway was the lady tried in court or this was so unfair justice applied as the article only mentions of an investigation that has been going on for the past 5years...

Almost forgot, going through this story this will vindicate all critics that believe cryptocurrencies  facilitate crime , but I think fiat has done more harm in facilitating criminal activities and they hardly admit to this fact .

[m2017]

Damn!

How do you get people to give you 5 billion dollars? I've seen some ponzi schemes and scams but they were usually in the millions, not billions. Even the famous Charles Ponzi stole $15 million.

$15 million at that time (during Charles Ponzi’s life) and now are not equivalent amounts.

She was delusional if she thought she could launder that much money. It's easy to hide $100k and not pay taxes from it, but once you start getting into millions it becomes much harder because expensive assets like real estate and cars can be registered. Someone has to pay property tax, get the required paperwork. You can't have 10 different names to hide 10 purchases because that's eventually going to come to light. You get into 100m+ and it becomes close to impossible.

But you can find 10 relatives (judging by the name Jian Wen, this should not be difficult for her) on whom to formalize these transactions. ^{This is not a recommendation for use.}

A former takeaway worker found with Bitcoin worth more than £2bn was jailed for six years and eight months for a crime linked to money laundering on Friday.

Obviously, she was not the only one handling such huge sums. Where are the accomplices?

[Cryptomultiplier]

Fun fact: The bigger is your sandbox, the easier it is to hide another bag of sand.

I like your analogy. But, if you have a sandbox, would you really risk it all for one more bag of sand?

In this case, I assume the woman didn't have any sand and stole a desert

Am sure if the woman in question knew about privacy coins and mixers, she would have done a great job at disguising the money to the ignorance of the government, but she didn't know otherwise and this is one reason why the government of many countries is sueing for regulation of cryptocurrency in every area so as to expose those who have hardened their heart to steal and launder money for their own benefits or for the benefits of others.