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Anglo-Chinese money launderer sentenced to more than 6 years in prison
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A British-Chinese woman was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for laundering bitcoins from a £5 billion fraud in China committed by her employer, Southwark Crown Court in London heard on Friday.
Jian Wen, 42, was convicted in March of one count of money laundering on behalf of a Chinese woman, Yadi Zhang, his former boss.
During Raid on Wen and Zhang’s Hampstead mansion In 2018, the London Metropolitan Police seized devices containing 61,000 bitcoins, currently worth more than £3 billion.
This is one of the largest crypto collections by a law enforcement agency in the world. THE Encounter had initially investigated Wen over an attempt to purchase a London mansion with bitcoin.
His then-boss stole the funds as part of a £5bn fraud in China, British prosecutors allege. Zhang’s lawyer said she was “completely innocent.”
Wen was convicted of laundering some of the proceeds between 2017 and 2022 after two trials and acquittals on 10 other charges. She has not been accused of involvement in the original alleged fraud.
Judge Sally-Ann Hales, KC, said: “I have no doubt about it. . . you knew, rather than merely suspected, that you were dealing in the proceeds of crime.
“This was a sophisticated offense which involved significant planning,” she added.
Wen, who was accused of helping convert some of the bitcoins into cash, jewelry and other luxury items, as well as property, has pleaded not guilty and has consistently denied knowing that the funds from his employer had been robbed.
“Miss Wen was a fragile and desperate woman” who was “undoubtedly duped and used,” Mark Harries KC, her lawyer, told the court. The court heard Wen had not seen her 16-year-old son for 26 months. She has been in detention since March 2022.
“I disagree with your attorney’s categorization as a victim,” the judge said.
Wen admitted she controlled a Bitcoin wallet, but claimed she did not know the source of the cryptocurrency.
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Gillian Jones KC, acting on behalf of the Crown Prosecution Service, said Wen’s transactions “came against a backdrop of warning that Miss Wen had been informed of the source of the bitcoin”.
Between 2017 and 2020, Wen turned to a series of intermediaries to convert the cryptocurrency into other assets, including Dubai-based real estate agent Michael James Burke, who helped her sell bitcoin through its companies in Seychelles and Switzerland, and to purchase properties in Dubai.
The Met is currently working through a civil recovery process aimed at confiscating all of the seized funds and is in communication with Chinese authorities.
“The Chinese side has already engaged in international law enforcement cooperation with the United Kingdom regarding this matter,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry told the Financial Times.
He added: “Law enforcement agencies from both countries are actively advancing work related to the pursuit of fugitives and asset recovery. »
The cooperation comes after a group representing victims of China’s alleged £5 billion scam submitted a letter to Beijing’s Foreign Office last month asking it to launch negotiations with the British government to recover the bitcoins purchased with their money.