On November 11, 2025, Qian Zhimin, the 47-year-old Chinese “Cryptoqueen” known as Yadi Zhang, Huahua, or Sister Hua, was sentenced to 11 years and 8 months in prison at London’s Southwark Crown Court for money laundering and possessing criminal property. The conviction stems from her role in a $5.62 billion Ponzi scheme through Tianjin Blue Sky Ge Rui Electronic Technology Co. Ltd., defrauding 128,000 victims, mostly elderly Chinese investors aged 50–75, from 2014 to 201. At her April 24, 2024, arrest in a York Airbnb, UK police seized 61,000 Bitcoin worth £5 billion ($6.6 billion), the largest crypto seizure in British history, per. Her accomplice, Seng Hok Ling, received 4 years and 11 months.
Zhimin and Ren Jiangtao founded Blue Sky Ge Rui in March 2014 as a facade for electronic services, but it quickly became an illicit fundraising vehicle, per. The scheme promised “ero-risk” short-term investments with 100–300% annual returns over 6–30 months, requiring minimum deposits of 6,000–60,000 yuan per. Using pyramid structures, it expanded to 30 provinces, producing slick materials like the “ritain Nice Life” video featuring Zhimin against London’s skyline, per. Early payouts from new deposits created an illusion of legitimacy, luring victims, including businesspeople, bank employees, and judicial officials, to lose life savings and incur debt. By April 2017, as Chinese authorities investigated illegal deposit collection, over 80 accomplices were convicted in China.
An experienced fraudster from prior schemes in Anhui and Jilin (2012–2013), Zhimin converted billions into Bitcoin via Huobi for laundering, storing them in an encrypted wallet on a black Lenovo laptop, per. Fleeing in summer 2017 via motorcycle to Myanmar, then Laos to the UK on a forged St. Kitts and Nevis passport, she lived lavishly: a £17,000/month Hampstead Heath mansion, Harrods shopping, Ritz Carlton suites, and Dubai villas, per. Her diaries revealed delusions: aspiring to be a “European duchess,” founding an international bank, buying a Swedish castle, and becoming Queen of Liberland, per. She denied wrongdoing initially, claiming victimhood from China’s crypto crackdown, but pleaded guilty in September 2025.
Zhimin’s scam mirrors OneCoin’s Ruja Ignatova, targeting non-tech-savvy elderly with complex jargon, recruitment commissions, and a mysterious entrepreneur persona, per. The Ponzi mechanics, unrealistic returns, new deposit payouts, exponential growth, and inevitable collapse, devastated victims, per. Her 25 warning signs for crypto Ponzi, including guaranteed high returns, zero-risk promises, recruitment bonuses, and emotional manipulation, serve as a cautionary guide. Judge Sally-Ann Hales called Zhimin the “architect of the crimes,”.
Zhimin’s conviction, with £5B seized, underscores global crackdowns on crypto fraud, per. Bitcoin (BTC) ($113,234) and Ethereum (ETH) ($4,070) remain stable, per CoinMarketCap, but the case highlights Ponzi risks amid the SEC’s Paul Atkins era. Investors should verify via sec.gov and avoid MLM schemes. Diversify into USDC or ETH with stop-losses below BTC’s $112,000, per TradingView. Follow @TheBlock__ on X for updates. This saga may spur stricter FATF rules.
