Zhimin Qian dreamt that the Dalai Lama would anoint her a reincarnated goddess and that she go on to become the Queen of Liberland, an unrecognised micronation on the Danube, where she would build the biggest Buddhist temple in Europe.
A fugitive from the Beijing authorities, Qian had the funds to believe such mad dreams could become reality: huge sums of bitcoin from a £5bn investment scam she allegedly ran in China, defrauding more than 128,000 people.
The 45-year-old Qian was at the heart of a London money laundering trial that concluded this week with the conviction of her “carer and assistant” Jian Wen.
Qian’s “spectre has haunted this trial from the start to finish”, Mark Harries KC, Wen’s lawyer, told the jury at Southwark Crown Court.
Harries called Qian — referred to in court by a false name, Yadi Zhang — a “supervillain” and told the jury she was a “master of deception” who indulged in “skilful manipulation”.
London police had encountered Wen and Qian during a police raid on a Hampstead mansion in 2018. They were investigating a suspicious and botched property purchase by Wen. They seized devices containing 61,000 bitcoin — worth more than £3bn in today’s prices — one of the biggest crypto hauls found by law enforcement anywhere.
Wen was ultimately arrested and convicted of one count of money laundering after two trials and acquittals on 10 other counts. She was not accused of involvement in the original alleged China fraud.
But Qian remains at large and UK police believe she has left the UK. She is subject to an Interpol red notice. Her whereabouts remain unknown.
Qian was born on September 4 1978. Little is known about her life before she ran a Chinese company called Tianjin Lantian Gerui Electronic Technology, launched in March 2014.
Lantian Gerui sold investment products, promising returns of up to 300 per cent, according to UK court documents. It also claimed to have a side business in bitcoin mining.
Qian’s marketing extended to renting out Beijing’s scenic Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, a diplomatic complex where state leaders host foreign dignitaries, to host conferences to promote Lantian Gerui’s products, Chinese court documents said.
Prospective investors were also taken to Lantian Gerui’s bitcoin mining site. UK court documents alleged the company “used near-obsolete [mining] equipment merely as a front to deceive would-be investors”.
In the end, Qian allegedly funnelled her investors’ money to an account at crypto exchange Huobi, converting it to bitcoin and fleeing, the jury in Wen’s trial heard.
Qian’s name had been hidden from Lantian Gerui’s paperwork.
Soon after it was founded, Qian asked an employee, Jiangtao Ren, to become the legal representative for three years, Ren told a Tianjin court in 2018.
She offered him a one-off bonus of £111,000 in addition to his monthly salary of £3,300, the Tianjin court heard. His name was also used to open a Huobi account, but he insisted all the money was managed by Qian.
Ren told the court that Qian assured him that if the company ran into trouble, she would extract him from any legal difficulties.
But in July 2017, after an investigation began in China, she fled the country with a black Lenovo laptop. It contained a crypto wallet with billions of pounds worth of bitcoin transferred from Ren’s Huobi account.
The Tianjin Public Security Bureau announced in 2019 that 50 suspects, including Ren, had been arrested by local authorities on fraud charges relating to Lantian Gerui. A total of 14 Chinese nationals have been prosecuted and convicted in China, according to UK court documents.
China’s Ministry of Public Security did not respond to a request for comment. Tianjin Public Security Bureau could not be reached for comment.
Qian’s escape was assisted by multiple individuals, including a Chinese national called Yadi Zhang, according to the UK court documents.
She used Zhang’s name to obtain a St Kitts and Nevis passport in July 2017. A month later Qian obtained a fake Myanmar passport under the name Nan Yin, and used these identities to evade the Chinese authorities.
In September 2017 Qian flew from Laos to the UK with the Saint Kitts and Nevis passport, and used the name Zhang when she met Wen a few days later at a London hotel.
For the next three years, Wen worked as Qian’s assistant, helping her convert bitcoin into cash, real estate and jewellery, even as UK police investigated their activities. Wen denied knowing anything about the alleged China fraud.
Wen played a role of a “front person to keep Zhang in the background”, Gillian Jones KC, acting on behalf of the Crown Prosecution Service, told the jury in her trial.
In 2018, during that time with Wen, Qian started a digital diary that was later seized by UK police. In it, Qian recorded her desire to be anointed “Reincarnated Goddess” by the Dalai Lama, and her plans for the kingdom she would rule in Liberland, a 7 sq km unrecognised and uninhabited micronation located on the Danube between Croatia and Serbia. Qian’s plans included a Buddhist temple, infrastructure including an airport and port, and her £5mn crown and sceptre.
Despite Qian’s eccentric ambitions, Wen testified that her life was surprisingly miserable. Qian said she had difficulty walking as the result of a past car accident and most days she spent about 20 hours in bed with her laptop, playing games, shopping and transacting bitcoin exchange.
“She had bad dreams and woke up screaming at night,” Wen told the court. “She was in the bed for the whole time. How would you think she had a different name?”
Though the Metropolitan Police first searched Qian and Wen’s Hampstead mansion in October 2018, they did not realise the devices they seized contained 61,000 bitcoin until mid-2021.
In July that year, the police applied to a court for an order to retain bitcoin seized from one of her devices. Qian’s solicitor said at a hearing she was “making a proprietary right to the bitcoin on the devices”, adding: “my client has the right to the peaceful use of her bitcoin under the Human Rights Act”, according to UK court documents.
Where Qian herself was at that point is unclear. She had repeatedly failed to turn up to interviews requested by the police. Wen told the court she had last spoken to Qian in October 2020.
The last time the UK police had seen Qian was during the October 2018 raid, when they seized her passport with the other items. At the time they made an “operational decision” not to arrest either Zhang or Wen, but rather to seize items to obtain a “fuller picture”, according to UK court documents. The police returned Qian’s passport the following March.
Now the fuller picture is known, a major question that remains is what will happen to the 61,000 bitcoin. The CPS has started civil recovery proceedings in the High Court. Usually half of forfeited funds go to the police and the other half go the Home Office if no one else is entitled to the assets.
Ahead of this week’s verdict in Wen’s case, Detective Chief Superintendent Jason Prins told reporters that the Chinese authorities had not yet asked to have the money returned.
Additional reporting by Euan Healy in London
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