UK CPS threatens Zhimin Qian's fixer with more jail time in push for $7.6M refund

The Crown Prosecution Service of the United Kingdom has asked the financier and fixer of convicted Chinese Bitcoin fraudster Zhimin Qian to return $7.6 million or risk extra jail time. The individual in question, Sen Hok Ling, is a Malaysian international and a known ally of the incarcerated Qian.

According to the United Kingdom’s CPS, Ling is a professional money launderer who received 83.7 BTC from Qian between February and April 2024. He cashed out the Bitcoin stash in the United Arab Emirates, sending the funds to accounts based in the country and through other third-party platforms where he converted it into cash.

“Ling took part in a sophisticated money laundering operation which laundered many millions of pounds from the proceeds of crime,” said Adrian Foster, Chief Crown Prosecutor of the Crown Prosecution Service Proceeds of Crime Division, in a statement.

United Kingdom’s CPS orders money launderer to return stolen funds

Ling was sentenced to four years and 11 months in prison last November after pleading guilty to a one-count charge of money laundering in relation to the offence. He was sentenced alongside Qian, identified as Yadi Zhang, who received 11 years and eight months following a guilty plea for two counts of money laundering offences.

Prosecutors are now asking Ling to return $7.6 million from the funds that he laundered while the operation was still active.

⚖️ @CPSUK with @metpoliceuk obtained multi-million-pound Confiscation Order against convicted money launderer Seng Hok Ling https://t.co/8qveSYwPr0 pic.twitter.com/83o8LWOcDY

— Crown Prosecution Service (@CPSUK) January 22, 2026

According to previous reports, Qian ran a Ponzi scheme in China between 2014 and 2017. She used a company called Lantian Gerui, mostly targeting elderly Chinese investors. The scheme was able to con more than 128,000 out of their pensions and life savings, with most of them lured under the promise of elaborate returns. The fraudsters also held big banquets and roadshows, inviting the son-in-law of Chairman Mao to an event at one point.

United Kingdom Prosecutors claimed that payouts stopped in 2017, and Qian was able to convert some of her ill-gotten funds into crypto and fled the country. They claimed that she arrived in the United Kingdom with a passport under the name Yadi Zhang and set about reinventing herself.

She tried to cash out the Bitcoin to purchase high-end properties in London, but was unable to do so due to know-your-customer requirements. Instead, she settled for a $21,000-a-month mansion in Hampstead Heath, London.

Seized Bitcoin stash still a subject of debate

After she arrived in the United Kingdom, her diary showed that she plotted to rub shoulders with European aristocracy, jotting down hopes to purchase a Swedish castle, becoming friends with a duke, and acquiring a British bank.

Qian also thought about becoming Queen of Liberaland, referring to an unrecognized microstate in the Danube River where Tron founder Justin Sun is the prime minister. However, her thoughts were cut short when she was arrested in York in April 2024.

United Kingdom authorities carried out a raid on her Hampstead mansion and discovered 61,000 BTC, the largest crypto seizure in the history of the United Kingdom. The seized digital asset, which is currently worth $5.4 billion, remains the subject of debate.

Investors in Lantian Gerui did not pay in crypto and are estimated to have lost a combined $600 million, a fraction of the total worth of the Bitcoin seized from her. Meanwhile, civil proceedings are still ongoing to decide how the Bitcoin will be disbursed.

While victims will eventually be reimbursed, the additional funds may end up in the United Kingdom Treasury. Nico Harris, CEO at digital assets recovery firm CryptoCare, mentioned that the UK’s Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 empowers authorities to seize funds from fraud even if it originates overseas. “The law allows the UK to retain such funds, typically directing them to the Treasury or law enforcement,” he said. Harris has suggested that the United Kingdom establish a strategic reserve with the funds.

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