Fraud Victims Seek Return of $4.3B Bitcoin from UK Police

Fraud Victims of a $4.3B investment scheme involving Tianjin Lantian are seeking the UK government’s help.

Fraud victims who were defrauded by an investment scheme that was sponsored by a Chinese electronics business are seeking assistance from the government of the United Kingdom in order to retrieve the $4.3 billion worth of Bitcoin that they purchased with their own money.

Fraud Victims Seeks UK Government’s Help

There have been reports that an organization that represents the fraud victims of the scam has addressed a letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, requesting that it engage with the government of the United Kingdom in order to retrieve the bitcoin that was taken from them.

Tianjin Lantian Gerui Electronic Technology obtained the funds through an investment strategy between 2014 and 2017. The organization, which also made contact with the Ministry of Public Security in China, stated that it had gathered about 2,500 signatures from victims and intends to send them to both ministries.

The letter extends an invitation to the Chinese government to work together with the United Kingdom and offer documentation that demonstrates their legitimate ownership of the Bitcoin technology.

“We do not want, and will never accept, a situation where Bitcoins are confiscated by the UK and not returned to us.”

According to the letter, the government of the United Kingdom has not yet declared how it intends to handle the bitcoin that was confiscated in the case.

After Jian Wen, a former employee in the hospitality industry, attempted to launder money by purchasing a property worth $30 million using Bitcoin, the authorities in the United Kingdom seized the cryptocurrency.

Wen was unable to provide an explanation for the origin of the funds, which resulted in the transaction being unsuccessful. This prompted the authorities to conduct an investigation and carry out a raid on a property in 2021.

It was discovered by the authorities that Wen and her boss, Zhimin Qian, who is believed to be the mastermind behind the investment fraud operation, had rented a house that contained 61,000 bitcoins at the time.

During the time that it was seized in 2021, Bitcoin was worth $1.7 billion, but as the price of Bitcoin has increased since then, it is now worth approximately $4.3 billion.

Wen initially claimed to have mined the Bitcoin, but she later changed her story to claim that it was a “love present” from Qian, who had left the United Kingdom.

Between October 2017 and January 2022, Wen was accused of three counts of money laundering. These charges were brought against him. On March 20, the Southwark Crown Court convicted Wen of money laundering, despite the fact that she dismissed all of the counts against her.