Zhimin Qian

Qian Zhimin (; born 4 September 1978), also known as Zhang Yadi (张雅迪), is a Chinese fraudster convicted in the United Kingdom for her role in one of the largest cryptocurrency money laundering cases in history. Between 2014 and 2017, Qian orchestrated a Ponzi scheme in China through her company Tianjin Lantian Gerui Electronic Technology Co Ltd (蓝天格锐; "Blue Sky Greet"), defrauding more than 128,000 investors of approximately 40 billion yuan (£4.2 billion). She fled China in 2017 using a forged passport and settled in London, where she attempted to launder the proceeds—stored as Bitcoin - through luxury property purchases. The Metropolitan Police ultimately seized over 61,000 Bitcoin, valued at more than £5 billion at the time of recovery, described as the largest single cryptocurrency seizure by law enforcement in the United Kingdom.

Qian pleaded guilty to two offences under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 at Southwark Crown Court on 29 September 2025 and was sentenced on 11 November 2025 to 11 years and 8 months' imprisonment.

The Lantian Gerui fraud In 2014, Qian founded Tianjin Lantian Gerui Electronic Technology Co Ltd in Tianjin, China. The company claimed to develop advanced health technology products and to mine cryptocurrency, promising investors annual returns of up to 300 percent. In reality, the company operated as a Ponzi scheme: returns paid to existing investors were funded by deposits from new recruits rather than from any genuine business activity.

The scheme attracted investors from every province of China, many of whom were middle-aged or elderly and invested their life savings and pensions. Total investor deposits were estimated by the Crown Prosecution Service at more than 40 billion yuan (approximately £4.2 billion), with direct financial losses of approximately £600 million.

Over 80 people in China received criminal convictions in connection with the Lantian Gerui fraud.

Flight from China By the time Chinese police opened their investigation in mid-2017, over 70,000 Bitcoin had been transferred from the exchange to a digital wallet stored on a laptop. Qian paid off senior managers to reassure investors that the interruption in payouts was temporary, while she prepared to flee the country. The laptop itself was separately smuggled into the UK: her later accomplice Jian Wen collected it from Thailand on 20 October 2017, and retrieved a second laptop on 29 November 2017. According to testimony given at Wen's trial, Qian spent most of her days in bed playing video games, shopping online, and exchanging Bitcoin, while Wen managed day-to-day affairs.