By pleading guilty “Ms Zhang hopes to bring some comfort to investors who have waited since 2017 for compensation” her lawyer, Roger Sahota, said.
Wen worked at a fast food takeaway in east London before she started working with Zhang in 2017. In a matter of weeks, she went from living in the restaurant’s basement to a luxurious lifestyle that included a six-bedroom house, foreign trips and shopping sprees.
Chinese police started investigating a suspected fraudulent investment project in Tianjin, China, in 2017 that had swindled over 128,000 people across the country, UK prosecutors said at the trial. The investigation uncovered a fraud involving a company called Tianjin Lantian that lured investors with the promise of high returns. Unsuspecting investors had a total of 40 billion yuan ($9.6b) stolen and 14 Chinese nationals have been convicted in connection with the crime.
The sentencing of Ling and Zhang brings criminal proceedings in the UK to a close, the focus will now shift to civil cases over where the seized crypto will end up between out-of-pocket investors and the UK Government.
“Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are increasingly being used by organised criminals to disguise and transfer assets, so that fraudsters may enjoy the benefits of their criminal conduct,” Robin Weyell, deputy chief crown prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said on Monday.
“The CPS will now work to ensure, through criminal confiscation and civil proceedings, that the criminal assets remain beyond the fraudsters’ reach.”
Sign up to Herald Premium Editor’s Picks, delivered straight to your inbox every Friday. Editor-in-Chief Murray Kirkness picks the week’s best features, interviews and investigations. Sign up for Herald Premium here.
