After authorities unearthed more than £3 billion worth of Bitcoin, a former Chinese takeaway worker was found guilty of money laundering and sentenced to more than six years in prison.
When Jian Wen, 42, attempted to purchase some of the priciest real estate in London, such as a £23.5 million seven-bedroom mansion in Hampstead with a swimming pool and a neighboring £12.5 million house with a movie theater and gym, she caught the attention of the authorities.
After the inquiry, more than 61,000 Bitcoin were found in digital wallets, leading to the largest cryptocurrency seizure in the UK’s history.
The cryptocurrency’s value has increased from £1.4 billion to over £3 billion since then, and 23,308 Bitcoins connected to the investigation—which are currently valued at over £1 billion—remain in circulation.
The Bitcoin is said to have originated from a £5 billion investment fraud that took place in China from 2014 to 2017.
Wen was not a part of the scam, but it was said that she served as a “front person” to assist in hiding the source of the funds, some of which were smuggled out of China on devices after being used to purchase cryptocurrencies.
After a retrial at Southwark Crown Court last month, she was found guilty of one count of money laundering related to 150 Bitcoin, which is currently valued at around £8 million, between October 2017 and January 2022.
Judge Sally-Ann Hales KC sentenced Wen to six years and eight months in prison today, saying, “I am sure you came to enjoy the better things in life.”
“The evidence showed you and, to some extent, members of your family were generously rewarded for your service.”
Wen, who has been detained as a Category A prisoner since March 3, 2022, informed the court that she intends to challenge the verdict.
In her defense, Mark Harries KC stated that she “was a victim long before she became a criminal” and that the real brains behind the illegal activities had “undoubtedly duped and used” her.
She was “picked from the most humble of backgrounds,” according to Mr. Harries, and she went from working and living in “shabby Chinese restaurants” to a “lifestyle of luxury” financed by Bitcoin.
Wen traveled the world, spending tens of thousands of pounds on trendy clothing and shoes at Harrods, and resided in a £5 million, six-bedroom home in Hampstead Heath that was rented for £17,000 a month.
The court heard that she sent her kid to the £6,000-per-term Heathside preparatory school and owned a £25,000 Mercedes E-Class.
For almost £500,000, she purchased two flats in Dubai and considered purchasing a £10 million seaside Tuscan property from the 18th century.
However, attempts to acquire multimillion-pound houses in London sparked anti-money laundering investigations, and none of the deals were completed since the Bitcoin’s source could not be determined. Police initially raided Wen’s house on October 31, 2018, when she failed to provide an explanation for the monies, despite having disclosed an income of only £5,979 for the 2016–17 fiscal year.
She acknowledged that she was a part of a transaction involving some cryptocurrencies, but she said that she had no idea or reason to believe it to be the results of illegal activity.
The court was informed that when Bitcoin was exchanged for fiat money, it was placed into black prepaid cards, which allowed for global usage.
Wen, who had a business degree and a diploma in law, was cleared of many other charges related to money laundering, and according to Mr. Harries, she had sought to improve her and her son’s conditions, first by legal methods.
She served as the “conduit” , whose “her simple task the pressing of buttons for transactions of Bitcoin” as well as a “limited awareness of the extent of the criminal activity to which she had leant herself,” he stated.
However, Wen’s prosecutor Gillian Jones KC said that Wen was not the victim of “coercion, intimidation, or exploitation” and that her motivation was “greed” and her own “financial gain”.
