A woman has been sentenced to nearly seven years in prison for money laundering after being accused of converting bitcoin into cash and property to hide the proceeds of a massive $6.4 billion fraud. The trial, held in a London court, found Wen Jian, 42, guilty of laundering substantial amounts of Bitcoin. These funds were allegedly linked to a multi-billion-dollar investment fraud that targeted around 130,000 Chinese investors between 2014 and 2017.
Wen Jian, who was not involved in the underlying fraud but knew the alleged mastermind, Zhang Yadi, helped conceal the origin of the stolen money. Unfortunately, Ms. Zhang has escaped and her current whereabouts are unknown. The judge, Sally-Ann Hales, described Wen Jian’s offense as sophisticated and well-planned, highlighting that she knowingly dealt with criminal property.
During the trial at Southwark Crown Court in March, Wen Jian denied three counts of money laundering, claiming that she was unaware of the illicit source of the bitcoin. However, the jury found her guilty of one count, which resulted in her being sentenced to six years and eight months in prison.
According to a report, certain illegal activities involving cryptocurrencies, such as darknet market sales and ransomware extortion, are still primarily conducted using Bitcoin. The report also revealed that Elliptic researchers received cryptocurrency payments from more than 90 Chinese companies, 90% of which were involved in the supply of fentanyl precursors.
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