Takeaway worker, 42, who lived above a Chinese restaurant before using £2bn of Bitcoin to rent a six-bed £17,000-a-month house in London faces jail over money laundering arrangement
When Jian Wen arrived in the UK with just ££5,979 to her name she took a job in a Chinese takeaway and the cheap basement bedsit below it.
But within weeks she had moved into a £5million six-bedroom house yards from Hampstead Heath, was sending son to a the prestigious £6,000-a-term Heathside prep, driving a new Mercedes and doing her shopping in Harrods.
No expense was spared as she jetted to Germany, Rome, Zurich, Norway, Thailand, China, Japan where she saw the sights under the guise of a jewellery business owner trading in diamonds and antiques.
The pair travelled across Europe together selling Bitcoin to buy expensive jewellery including watches worth up to £70,000 from Van Cleef and Arpels in Switzerland. Wen then bought two flats in Dubai for more than £500,000 and began looking at bidding for a £10m 18th century Tuscan villa with views to the coast.
But it was only when she tried to acquire a £23million Hampstead mansion, that alarm bells rang in the UK.
Now police have linked Wen’s accounts to £3.4billion in the cryptocurrency, which she was helping a fugitive to launder. Piles of cash were found in her home and she is now facing jail.
The extraordinary story of her life at the heart of one of Britain’s biggest Bitcoin seizure can be told after a five-year probe has ended in her conviction for money laundering.
The 42-year-old acted as a front for a £5billion racket masterminded by Yadi Zhang, also known as Zhimin Qian, who fled to the UK in 2017 after ripping off 128,000 investors in China.
Qian, who employed her as his live-in PA after a meeting at the five-star Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington, has since vanished. Wen had insisted she had no idea the Bitcoin came from the proceeds of fraud and claimed she had been duped by Qian.
Jian Wen barely had £5,000 to her name when she arrived in Britain to work in a London Chinese takeaway.
But within weeks of meeting a mysterious benefactor in 2016, she was living the lifestyle of a Bitcoin billionaire building a global property empire.
The 42-year-old acted as a front for a £5billion criminal racket masterminded by Yadi Zhang, also known as Zhimin Qian, who fled to the UK in 2017 after ripping off more than 128,000 investors in a wealth management swindle in China.
Qian - whose name means money in Chinese - has since vanished, but she engaged Wen to launder the proceeds in a series of eye-watering property purchases.
In 2016, Wen was a single mother living below a Chinese restaurant in London where she earned just £5,979 a year.
But her life changed after she saw an advert on Chinese social media app WeChat to be a ‘butler’ for a woman who claimed to run an international business trading in diamonds and antiques and boasted of spending tens of thousands of pounds on designer clothes in Harrods.
Just weeks after meeting Qian at the five-star Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington, Wen moved to a £5million six-bedroom manor house near Hampstead Heath, she bought a £25,000 E-Class Mercedes and enrolled her son at the £6,000-a-term Heathside preparatory school.
The pair travelled around the world, holidaying in Europe, Thailand and Dubai under various aliases, while Wen opened a series of cryptocurrency accounts making meticulous notes of transactions in a Wallace and Gromit notebook.
They sold Bitcoin and bought fine jewellery, splashing out on over £44,000 worth of gems at Christopher Walser Vintage Diamonds in Zurich, and watches worth £119,000 from Van Cleef & Arpels.
In three months, more than £90,000 was spent in Harrods on designer clothing, jewellery and shoes using a rewards card in Wen’s name.
She snapped up two apartments in Dubai for more than £500,000 and looked into buying a £10m 18th century Tuscan villa with a sea view.
Wen then attempted to buy a £23.5m seven-bedroom Hampstead mansion with a swimming pool and a nearby £12.5m home with a cinema and gym.
But the spending spree triggered anti-money laundering checks and the purchases were halted after she could not explain the source of the Bitcoin she planned to use to pay for the properties.
Wen initially claimed the cryptocurrency had been mined, then said it was given to her as a ‘love present’, stating she had been given 3,000 bitcoin, then worth £15million, by Qian.
Scotland Yard launched a major investigation making the UK’s biggest-ever cryptocurrency seizure in 2021 when more than 61,000 Bitcoin were discovered in digital wallets hidden in a safety deposit box.
The cryptocurrency was worth £1.4billion at the time, but its value has now risen to £3.4billion.
Qian fled the UK after police raided her address and her whereabouts are currently unknown.
Wen claimed she had been ‘duped’ by her boss, telling jurors at Southwark Crown Court that had assisted Qian run a jewellery business and had no idea the Bitcoin was proceeds of fraud.
But yesterday she was convicted of entering or becoming concerned in a money laundering arrangement between October 2017 and January 2022.
Andrew Penhale, Chief Crown Prosecutor, said: ‘Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are increasingly being used by organised criminals to disguise and transfer assets, so that fraudsters may enjoy the benefits of their criminal conduct. This case, involving the largest cryptocurrency seizure in the UK, illustrates the scale of criminal proceeds available to those fraudsters.’
Wen had insisted she had no idea the Bitcoin came from the proceeds of fraud and claimed she had been duped by Qian.
She said she helped Qian run a jewellery business which had branches in Singapore, Malaysia and China.
The pair travelled across Europe together selling Bitcoin to buy expensive jewellery including watches worth up to £70,000 from Van Cleef and Arpels in Switzerland.
Prosecutor Gillian Jones KC earlier said: 'The defendant went on to travel extensively both nationally and internationally either by herself or together with Miss Zhang.
'When travelling in company with Miss Zhang countries which had an extradition treaty with China were avoided.
'During those trips, Bitcoin was sold, and fine jewellery purchased, and we can see in communications that property in Europe was considered for purchase.
'You will see in photos found on mobile phones that they never appear in photos together.
'It appears that this was one of Miss Zhang's requirements, no doubt to prevent the risk of her being tracked down through Miss Wen.'
Wen was instructed by Zhang to buy high value properties in London with the Bitcoin, including a seven-bedroom Hampstead mansion with a swimming pool for £23.5m and a £12.5m eight-bedroom home with a cinema and gym.
But the sales did not go ahead as the source of the currency could not be verified.
Wen was arrested in the summer of 2021 after officers raided her home.
Multiple devices were seized including a safety deposit box containing digital wallets including more than 61,000 Bitcoin worth £1.4 billion
'To legitimately mine the Bitcoin seized in this investigation, 61,000 BTC, you would have to use and pay for roughly the same amount of electricity as that required to power 25,000 domestic households for a year - that's the size of a town,' said Ms Jones.
Zhang fled the UK after police raided her address and her whereabouts is currently unknown.
Following her arrest Wen initially claimed the Bitcoin had been mined before claiming it was a 'love present' from Zhang.
Ms Jones told the jury: 'That is quite a pay cheque. You are going to have to look carefully at the circumstances of that purported gift.
'A gesture by a very generous benefactor pleased with the care and assistance provided, or a device or sham to create an air of legitimacy as to the source of funds when Miss Wen attempted to purchase high value property on behalf of Miss Zhang.'
Wen, of Hampstead, denied but was convicted of one charge of entering or becoming concerned in a money laundering arrangement.
The two remaining charges were dropped by the prosecution.
Judge Sally-Ann Hales, KC, remanded Wen in custody ahead of sentence on May 10.
Source :
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/crime/ ... ering.html
Takeaway worker busted with £2bn of Bitcoin in £17,000/month London villa.
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Crypto - great for nerds, small investors and criminals.
Did you even proof read that article or did you double copy and paste, they repeat the same info over and over again.
Plus. first she lived above the takeaway then in the basement flat!
Dailymail at it's best. The Khmertimes of the UK.
Did you even proof read that article or did you double copy and paste, they repeat the same info over and over again.
Plus. first she lived above the takeaway then in the basement flat!
Dailymail at it's best. The Khmertimes of the UK.
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Nobody cares son,nobody cares…ben snowden wrote: ↑Fri Mar 22, 2024 7:49 amCrypto - great for nerds, small investors and criminals.
Did you even proof read that article or did you double copy and paste, they repeat the same info over and over again.
Plus. first she lived above the takeaway then in the basement flat!
Dailymail at it's best. The Khmertimes of the UK.
Judging by the lack of replies to the topic I’m inclined to agree.
Keep up the good work though slick.
Keep up the good work though slick.
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Nobody cares son,nobody cares…Ben Snowden wrote: ↑Sun Mar 24, 2024 3:45 pmJudging by the lack of replies to the topic I’m inclined to agree.
Keep up the good work though slick.
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What an amateur - should've used Monero...
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Update posted on new thread.
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