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

[coolcoinz]

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

In EU we usually get a fine when we don't pay taxes, so it's not really risking a whole sandbox for one additional bag. Just risking a part of that bag.
If the sandbox is big enough that bag becomes a grain of sand, which is why they're now trying to limit our ability to use cash. It used to be 10k EUR with no KYC and is gradually lowered every few years.
In her case, talking in sand terms, she probably didn't even have a sandbox and stole whole freight train full of sand. Then unloaded it all in her back yard hoping nobody would notice

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

Accounting for inflation it's still much less than the amount we're talking about here. Investopedia says it's worth 220 million now.

[o48o]

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

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. Jian Wen, 42, from Hendon, in north London, was involved in converting the currency into assets including multi-million-pound houses and jewellery.

At Southwark Crown court in March, she was convicted of entering into or becoming concerned in a money laundering arrangement.The Metropolitan Police said at the time of the conviction the seizure was the largest of its kind in the UK."

When I came across this news on a bbc.com website I couldn't believed it but was moved to share over here to know her involvement as when she started making investment to have worth almost €2b worth in bitcoin, most times it's hard to believe story like this.

The floor is open for discussion (if this already discussed then remind me to Lock this topic).

I am a little stunned how anyone can think they can just wash £2 billion by directly buying houses without getting caught in London of all places. This is just another example how money can't buy brains. I wouldn't know how anyone would wash money these days, but even i know how you don't and this clearly isn't the way to do it.

I guess it was easier back in time to wash cryptos, but £2 billion is unheard of. I would be honestly surprised if there wouldn't be pile of dead bodies found with the investigations, because if my memory serves me right, that has been the case in couple big crypto scams. When you wash the money, you are going to be involved with some serious people in the underworld that might just get the money themselves, get rid of the persons that stole it in the first place and wash it.

[kryptqnick]

The article doesn't mention details, but money laundering in such big volumes is a serious crime, so it's not surprising that she got jail time for it. Bitcoin is a type of money, and like any kind of money, it can be used for good, bad, and neutral purposes. When Bitcoin is used for criminal purposes, those crimes should be investigated, like any other crimes. But those crimes and convictions should not be used to justify Bitcoin restrictions or anything like that.

[Maus0728]

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.

Most likely, that money didn't come from a legal means, that's probably why she's trying to launder that money, there's no way that you'd be evading taxes when the money came from a good standing right? It's in the article too that she's defrauded a lot of Chinese investors and was involved in a money laundering scheme so what did you expect? You do crime then you're going to have to do the time right? It's not a shame, you made money through illegal means then that means that you're going to have to pay for it eventually, that's justice.

[Ojima-ojo]

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.

Most likely, that money didn't come from a legal means, that's probably why she's trying to launder that money, there's no way that you'd be evading taxes when the money came from a good standing right? It's in the article too that she's defrauded a lot of Chinese investors and was involved in a money laundering scheme so what did you expect? You do crime then you're going to have to do the time right? It's not a shame, you made money through illegal means then that means that you're going to have to pay for it eventually, that's justice.

From the news details, you can tell that the source of the money is questionable and for that bitcoin was only mentioned because bitcoin was a tool in the hands of the criminals to carry out the multiple million money laundering, but the crime could possibly be committed using fiat, and that is the advantages of bitcoin and it blockchain, anyone can track the transactions as long as there is a wallet address to analyse but it requires advance tool to detect such connections.

[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.

Most likely, that money didn't come from a legal means, that's probably why she's trying to launder that money, there's no way that you'd be evading taxes when the money came from a good standing right? It's in the article too that she's defrauded a lot of Chinese investors and was involved in a money laundering scheme so what did you expect? You do crime then you're going to have to do the time right? It's not a shame, you made money through illegal means then that means that you're going to have to pay for it eventually, that's justice.

From the news details, you can tell that the source of the money is questionable and for that bitcoin was only mentioned because bitcoin was a tool in the hands of the criminals to carry out the multiple million money laundering, but the crime could possibly be committed using fiat, and that is the advantages of bitcoin and it blockchain, anyone can track the transactions as long as there is a wallet address to analyse but it requires advance tool to detect such connections.

As we don't know what really happened or what had transpired before uncovering the billion worth of bitcoins, we are only left to speculate on this matter. The news article is also lacking of details, so we have no idea what was the real deal on this case. She may have other cohorts on this scheme and she was only the frontliner of this activity. And I don't think they have done this overnight. It was possibly years in the making for all we know.

I understand that this kind of news is somewhat one of the reasons why people have negative outlook towards bitcoin market, but we need to look deeper on this situation. It is just like fiat, it is full of fraudulent activities if people want to deploy their activities on this network, they will surely find a way.

[Maus0728]

Most likely, that money didn't come from a legal means, that's probably why she's trying to launder that money, there's no way that you'd be evading taxes when the money came from a good standing right? It's in the article too that she's defrauded a lot of Chinese investors and was involved in a money laundering scheme so what did you expect? You do crime then you're going to have to do the time right? It's not a shame, you made money through illegal means then that means that you're going to have to pay for it eventually, that's justice.

From the news details, you can tell that the source of the money is questionable and for that bitcoin was only mentioned because bitcoin was a tool in the hands of the criminals to carry out the multiple million money laundering, but the crime could possibly be committed using fiat, and that is the advantages of bitcoin and it blockchain, anyone can track the transactions as long as there is a wallet address to analyse but it requires advance tool to detect such connections.

If you're reading the news of what's already happened, it's apparent and clear to everyone that this didn't come from any legal means but if this was at a surface level and no one has suspected a thing yet, I don't think that people like you or me would be able to tell that there's something illegal going on, we'd all probably think that good for her to be able to become a businesswoman in a field that's dominated by men. When there's no suspicion on the activities on your wallet or transaction then there's nothing really that would implicate you that you're doing something illegal.

[Silberman]

If you're reading the news of what's already happened, it's apparent and clear to everyone that this didn't come from any legal means but if this was at a surface level and no one has suspected a thing yet, I don't think that people like you or me would be able to tell that there's something illegal going on, we'd all probably think that good for her to be able to become a businesswoman in a field that's dominated by men. When there's no suspicion on the activities on your wallet or transaction then there's nothing really that would implicate you that you're doing something illegal.

Just the amount is suspicious enough, after all she was caught with 2 billion pounds, which is a massive amount of money that should leave a great deal of traces about where that money come from, so it was easy for the government to get suspicious about her activities and eventually arrest her once she had no means to prove her claims such profits came from mining bitcoin, the real question is who that money really belong to, as trusting that amount to a single person seems like a bad idea.

[JiiBs]

"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.

Proof, proof is all there is to this case and I don’t know how they would go about proving that especially with the claims of possible mining but, maybe all that is in the wind now. The article seems to be a bit back dated as OP is talking about Wen yo have been jailed for 6years and eight months while the provided link talks about the scheduled date for sentencing to be 10th of May. Well, the thread is that old but, something about the narrative am pleased with; it talking about the exploitation of Bitcoin.
At least for once they do get it right that, Bitcoin is what is been exploited here in conducting these crimes and not Bitcoin being seen as a currency for fraudster and scammers.

Hope Justice is served by bringing other individuals involved in this crime and not just Wen. The narrative speculates on a wider network of persons involved.

[tread93]

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

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. Jian Wen, 42, from Hendon, in north London, was involved in converting the currency into assets including multi-million-pound houses and jewellery.

At Southwark Crown court in March, she was convicted of entering into or becoming concerned in a money laundering arrangement.The Metropolitan Police said at the time of the conviction the seizure was the largest of its kind in the UK."

When I came across this news on a bbc.com website I couldn't believed it but was moved to share over here to know her involvement as when she started making investment to have worth almost €2b worth in bitcoin, most times it's hard to believe story like this.

The floor is open for discussion (if this already discussed then remind me to Lock this topic).

I imagine there are also many folks who have laundered money through some crypto avenue & have done very well for themselves. It is a tricky life tho, you're basically going to always be watching your back thinking someone is chasing after you, no? I just woudn't ever want to have to live with that kind of anxiety you would get from doing that, but for some people it is a rush!