China court moves to seize 61,800 bitcoin tied to $5.7 billion fraud case
A court in Tianjin has accepted a prosecutors' request to confiscate assets linked to an alleged fraud that raised more than 40.378 billion yuan, roughly $5.7 billion, including more than 61,800 bitcoin seized in Britain, according to reporting by Chinese outlet The Paper.
Prosecutors allege that Qian Zhimin, described as the controller of Tianjin Lantian Gree Electronic Technology, ran a scheme from 2014 to 2017 in which the company sold unlicensed wealth-management products across China promising guaranteed principal and high returns. More than 102,000 investors put money in and lost nearly 20 billion yuan, according to the report. The funds were allegedly used to repay earlier investors, run fake investment projects and buy bitcoin, property, cars and jewellery.
Qian left China in 2017 and later settled in the UK, where authorities seized his assets. These included the bitcoin plus bitcoin cash, bitcoin gold, bitcoin SV, ripple, dogecoin, cash, jewellery and investment holdings, according to the report. Tianjin's Second Intermediate People's Court said on 13 October that it had accepted the confiscation request and opened a six-month window for victims and other interested parties to join the case; victims who do not take part may still seek refunds from recovered assets.
The move follows a UK High Court ruling that Chinese law, rather than English law, should govern alleged victims' claims to the more than 61,000 bitcoin held in Britain. The ruling does not bar recovery; it requires the court to assess whether victims hold a property claim under Chinese law, with further hearings expected. Lawyers for some victims are seeking to appeal, according to the report.
The case is among China's largest alleged crypto-linked frauds, and the seized bitcoin could be worth considerably more now than when it was taken into custody. The outcome will be watched for how courts in different jurisdictions apportion claims to seized digital assets.
