Zhimin Qian case accomplice returns £5.6 million to UK government

BlockBeats news, October 21, according to the UK's Daily Mail, an individual who assisted in money laundering for a fraudster involved in a case amounting to £5.5 billion has returned £5.6 million to the UK government. Hok Seng Ling, 48, was ordered by the court to surrender the funds after admitting involvement in the largest money laundering case in UK history.

He served as a "butler" for Qian Zhimin, who orchestrated a Ponzi scheme that defrauded over 128,000 Chinese investors between 2014 and 2017, then converted the proceeds into Bitcoin and fled to the UK. Malaysian national Ling, residing in Matlock, Derbyshire, UK, assisted the "Bitcoin Queen" in laundering illicit gains and helped her evade UK police investigation by booking Airbnb accommodations and arranging assistants.

In November last year, Ling was sentenced to 4 years and 11 months in prison after pleading guilty to money laundering-related charges at Southwark Crown Court in London. Subsequently, the judge issued a confiscation order requiring him to surrender £5,603,305. Most of the funds came from cryptocurrency seized at the time of his arrest. The amount has now been fully recovered, along with an additional £1,990 in interest.