Cryptocurrency fraudster from China laundered a record $ 6.4 billion in bitcoin

Reuters informs that Chinese woman Wen Jian has been sentenced to six years and eight months in prison after a jury found her guilty of cryptocurrency money laundering in March.

Prosecutors allege that Wen converted bitcoins BTC $56,176.92 Bitcoin -1.95% Market capitalization $1.11 trillion VOL. 24 hours $2.72 billion into cash and physical property to conceal the source of the money, which was allegedly stolen from nearly 130,000 investors as part of a $ 6.4 billion embezzlement scheme that operated in China between 2014 and 2017.

The scheme is believed to have been organized by another woman who fled to the UK in 2017 after Chinese authorities launched an investigation. Wen was allegedly a front person who helped convert the stolen funds into bitcoins and take them out of China.

Wen has denied the money laundering allegations, saying that she was unaware of any criminal activity involving bitcoin. She claims that she was just trying to give her son a better life, but prosecutors argue that she should have known that the money was obtained illegally.

Judge Sally-Ann Hales noted that there was no indication that Wen was involved in fraud, but the official reportedly still accused the Chinese woman of lying — as if she knew she was dealing with illicit enrichment from the start.

This is said to be one of the largest cryptocurrency seizures by law enforcement in the world.