In the UK, a Chinese woman was accused of laundering bitcoins for a friend worth $ 6 billion
A Chinese woman living in London was accused of laundering $6.3 billion worth of bitcoins allegedly obtained by her friend from investment fraud. This is reported by Law360.
According to the British prosecutor's office, 42-year-old Jianwen converted cryptocurrency into cash, real estate, jewelry and other luxury items.
The operations were performed for Zhimin Qian. The latter allegedly defrauded 128,000 investors in China from 2014 to 2017, after which she transferred funds to bitcoins and fled to London under an assumed name — Yadi Zhang.
In turn, Wen moved to the UK in 2007 and, before meeting Zhang, worked in Chinese takeaway restaurants, living in "relatively modest housing." In 2017, they rented a six-bed mansion in north London together. In 2018, Wen became a British citizen. Zhang later fled the country and still remains at large.
Wen does not dispute the conduct of bitcoin transactions in favor of a friend for a fee, but denies any connection with fraud. She calls herself Zhang's "guardian" and claims that she was a wealthy businesswoman who made a fortune in jewelry, real estate and legal mining.
The jury will have to determine whether Wen knew that the bitcoins she converted were of criminal origin.
Source: Forklog
