UK confiscates a record amount of cryptocurrency obtained by criminal means

London police have seized £1.4 billion worth of bitcoins BTC $56,215.23 Bitcoin -1.61% Market capitalization $1.11 trillion VOL. 24 hours $2.71 billion , which were allegedly obtained as a result of a major investment scam in China. This seizure is one of the largest in the history of crypto scams.

The statement was made during the trial of 42-year-old Jian Wen, who is accused of laundering BTC for his former employer, who is suspected of fleeing Beijing. By the way, Wen pleaded not guilty.

In 2018, police seized four separate devices containing more than 61,000 bitcoins from a safe-deposit box and a residence occupied by Wen and his then-employer Yadi Zhang. The total value of the cryptocurrency seized in July 2021 was approximately £1.4 billion.

The prosecution alleges that the bitcoin came from an investment fraud committed by Zhang in China between 2014 and 2017. Zhang, whose real name is Jiming Qian, is accused of defrauding more than 128,000 investors of nearly £5 billion, then converting the funds into BTC and fleeing to London under an assumed name in 2017.

According to the prosecution, Zhang has since fled the UK and remains at large. However, Wen was not involved in Zhang’s alleged fraud. Wen is accused of helping Zhang convert some bitcoins into cash, jewelry, luxury goods, and real estate.

As a reminder, German law enforcement agencies recently confiscated a huge amount of cryptocurrency. According to preliminary data, the police conducted the largest operation in history. They managed to get 50,000 BTC totaling $ 2.17 billion.