Qian Zhimin, a 47-year-old Chinese national, awaits sentence in the UK for her role in a £1.5 billion cryptocurrency scam. She was the mastermind behind the scheme that bilked money from thousands of investors. Zhiming avoided authorities upon entering the UK with a fake passport in September 2017. He then started another project, Lantian Gerui, or Bluesky Greet in English, which raised money from investors with the promise of high returns sourced from Bitcoin mining activities and technology investments.
Disguised as an engaged, small business owner, Qian’s company raised money from thousands of Chinese retirees, many of whom were likely living on fixed incomes. Like so many, they thought their investments would pay for the rest of their lives. Instead, they became unwitting participants in a rig that has been called a multi-billion-pound mugging. Last April, as her business began to thrive, authorities raided her rental property in Hampstead. Then discovered on hard drives, laptops and other devices was a huge cache of Bitcoin, considerably more valuable since she’d first arrived in the UK.
Qian Zhimin’s plans were more than just the pursuit of profit. Her diary indicated that she was crafting a bold six-year strategy that included aspirations to become the queen of Liberland, an unrecognized microstate on the Croatian-Serbian border, by 2022. She spent millions planning to build this territory, going as far as purchasing a Swedish castle to include in her dream of a new cultural mecca. In addition, she established an international bank and laid plans for attracting connections to powerful people, like a British duke.
The only moniker Ho used was Huahua, or Little Flower, which charmed her clients with visions of beauty and promises that left them spellbound. For all her secretive ways, she adroitly enchanted everyone in her orbit. As evidenced by the above testimonies from her former investors, she carefully curated a facade of extreme wealth and success.
“Those of us present, you could say that we were starstruck,” said Mr. Li, one of her investors. “We all saw her as our Goddess of Wealth.”
Qian Zhimin’s strategy for keeping in touch with her clients was extremely outside the box. She often conveyed her messages through poems published on her blog, which created an air of mystique around her persona.
“We must love the elderly with the infatuation of a first romance.” – Qian Zhimin
She promised big to build China into the global leader of cryptocurrency. She promised to build wealth that would keep families living for years to come. As Mr. Li remembered, “She began to inspire us to think beyond our limits. In just three years, she vowed, she would bring us enough riches to support our families for three generations.”
Behind the mounting facade of Qian’s operations, the reality was much worse. As the adversarial investigations continued to unfold, the truth simply won out. Her assertions were outright lies meant to take advantage of the goodwill of her investors. Mr. Yu, another investor, said that they should have never placed their trust in Wang.
Our patriotism was our Achilles’ heel, that’s what they caught us on, he stated.
On the first day of the trial at Southwark Crown Court, the court made a shocking disclosure. Qian Zhimin had held four compatriots at her York dwelling when she was arrested. The court heard testimonies detailing how she had convinced many to invest their life savings through emotional manipulation and false promises.
Qian’s grand ambitions were nonetheless well chronicled in her diary. She angled her proposal as an issue-driven effort to pay back her Chinese creditors when Bitcoin hit £50k a coin. Since she first arrived in the UK, her cryptocurrency holdings have appreciated significantly. They have increased in number by over 20 fold.
“That bunch of [promoters], they’d take something red and persuade you it was white, take something black and convince you it was red,” – Mr. Yu
As the sentencing hearing unfolds, Qian’s past actions have spurred distrust and fear that will follow those who had faith in her vision. Her case serves as a warning about the dangers of unregulated cryptocurrency investments. It exposes the hazards that countless Americans encounter while pursuing financial security.