Fraudster who hid in London is jailed over £5.5bn bitcoin scam

Zhimin Qian cheated 128,000 victims in China through a Ponzi scheme before going on the run for six years

The trail had been cold for five years - ever since Zhimin Qian narrowly escaped the police days after they raided her six-bedroom house in London. Then, in February 2024, detectives noticed a long-dormant bitcoin wallet flicker to life, and a manhunt began.

For over a month, police tracked the mastermind of one of the UK's largest money-laundering cases - from a lonely bungalow on the shores of Loch Tay to a red-tiled house outside Glasgow, and finally to a quiet Airbnb in suburban York, where the 46-year-old was arrested in late April alongside four Malaysian nationals working illegally as her domestic staff.