Revealed: How Chinese takeaway worker led police to one of the world’s biggest ever Bitcoin hauls – worth £2BILLION – in a Hampstead mansion
In the summer of 2017, Jian Wen had arrived in London with just £5,979 to her name and took a job in a Chinese takeaway as well as the gloomy basement bedsit below it.
But within weeks she had moved into a £5million six-bedroom house yards from Hampstead Heath, stumping up £17,000-a-month in rent plus six months up front and handing over a £40,000 deposit.
The single mother, 42, began sending her young son to the prestigious £6,000-a-term Heathside prep nearby, was driving a £25,000 E-Class Mercedes and doing her shopping in Harrods – spending £30,000-a-month there.
No expense was spared as she jetted to Germany, Rome, Zurich, Norway, Thailand, China, Japan where she saw the sights under the guise of a jewellery business owner trading in diamonds and antiques. Wen then bought two flats in Dubai for more than £500,000 and began looking at bidding for a £10million 18th century Tuscan villa with views to the coast.
But it was only when she tried to acquire a £23million Hampstead mansion, that alarm bells rang in the UK because she failed to pass money-laundering checks.
Now police have linked Wen’s accounts to £3.4billion in the cryptocurrency, which she was helping a fugitive to launder. Piles of cash were found in her home and she is now facing jail.
The extraordinary story of her life at the heart of one of Britain’s biggest Bitcoin seizure can be told after a five-year probe has ended in her conviction for money laundering yesterday.
The 42-year-old acted as a front for a £5billion racket masterminded by Yadi Zhang, also known as Zhimin Qian, who fled to the UK in 2017 after ripping off 128,000 investors in China.
The pair travelled across Europe together selling Bitcoin to buy expensive jewellery including watches worth up to £70,000 from Van Cleef and Arpels in Switzerland. In three months, more than £90,000 was spent in Harrods on designer clothing, jewellery and shoes using a rewards card in Wen’s name.
Zhang, who employed her as his live-in PA after a meeting at the five-star Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington, has since vanished.
Wen insists she had no idea the Bitcoin came from the proceeds of fraud and claimed she had been duped by Zhang.
Jian Wen (pictured) was found with Bitcoin wallets worth more than £2billion. She was convicted of a crime linked to money laundering
Wen was living in a basement room under a Chinese takeaway in Abbey Wood, south-east London. But within weeks was living in this fabulous six-bedroom house in Hampstead Heath, paying £17,000 a month in rent, in September 2017.
It was only when she she tried to buy a string of multi-million pound mansions like this one in London but struggled to pass money-laundering checks, and her claims that she had earned millions mining Bitcoin were not believed
Wen poses at the Lindt shop in Zurich on one of her trips to Europe. She claimed it was to buy items for a jewellery business, producing receipts for diamonds and watches
Piles of cash were found by police during searches connected to Jian Wen. She now faces being sent to prison
Zhang engaged Wen to launder the proceeds in a series of eye-watering property purchases.
In 2016, Wen was a single mother living below a Chinese restaurant in London where she earned just £5,979 a year.
A receipt for £75,000 worth of diamonds bought in Zurich
But her life changed after she saw an advert on Chinese social media app WeChat to be a ‘butler’ for a woman who claimed to run an international business trading in diamonds and antiques and boasted of spending tens of thousands of pounds on designer clothes in Harrods.
Just weeks after meeting Zhang at the five-star Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington, Wen moved to a £5million six-bedroom manor house near Hampstead Heath, she bought a £25,000 E-Class Mercedes and enrolled her son at the £6,000-a-term Heathside preparatory school.
The pair travelled around the world, holidaying in Europe, Thailand and Dubai under various aliases, while Wen opened a series of cryptocurrency accounts making meticulous notes of transactions in a Wallace and Gromit notebook.
They sold Bitcoin and bought fine jewellery, splashing out on over £44,000 worth of gems at Christopher Walser Vintage Diamonds in Zurich, and watches worth £119,000 from Van Cleef & Arpels.
In three months, more than £90,000 was spent in Harrods on designer clothing, jewellery and shoes using a rewards card in Wen’s name.
She snapped up two apartments in Dubai for more than £500,000 and looked into buying a £10m 18th century Tuscan villa with a sea view.
Wen then attempted to buy a £23.5m seven-bedroom Hampstead mansion with a swimming pool and a nearby £12.5m home with a cinema and gym.
Wen jetted across Europe, including to Germany. She denied knowing she was involved in money laundering and said she was lied to
Jian went to Norway on business too. It was an incredible transformation for a woman who had been living above or below Chinese takeaways for years
But the spending spree triggered anti-money laundering checks and the purchases were halted after she could not explain the source of the Bitcoin she planned to use to pay for the properties.
Wen initially claimed the cryptocurrency had been mined, then said it was given to her as a ‘love present’, stating she had been given 3,000 bitcoin, then worth £15million, by Zhang.
Scotland Yard launched a major investigation making the UK’s biggest-ever cryptocurrency seizure in 2021 when more than 61,000 Bitcoin were discovered in digital wallets hidden in a safety deposit box.
The cryptocurrency was worth £1.4billion at the time, but its value has now risen to £3.4billion.
Zhang fled the UK after police raided her address and her whereabouts are currently unknown.
Wen claimed she had been ‘duped’ by her boss, telling jurors at Southwark Crown Court that had assisted Zhang run a jewellery business and had no idea the Bitcoin was proceeds of fraud.
But yesterday she was convicted of entering or becoming concerned in a money laundering arrangement between October 2017 and January 2022.
Andrew Penhale, Chief Crown Prosecutor, said: ‘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. This case, involving the largest cryptocurrency seizure in the UK, illustrates the scale of criminal proceeds available to those fraudsters.’
Wen had insisted she had no idea the Bitcoin came from the proceeds of fraud and claimed she had been duped by Zhang.
She said she helped Zhang run a jewellery business which had branches in Singapore, Malaysia and China.
The pair travelled across Europe together selling Bitcoin to buy expensive jewellery including watches worth up to £70,000 from Van Cleef and Arpels in Switzerland.
Prosecutor Gillian Jones KC earlier said: ‘The defendant went on to travel extensively both nationally and internationally either by herself or together with Miss Zhang.
‘When travelling in company with Miss Zhang countries which had an extradition treaty with China were avoided.
‘During those trips, Bitcoin was sold, and fine jewellery purchased, and we can see in communications that property in Europe was considered for purchase.
‘You will see in photos found on mobile phones that they never appear in photos together.
‘It appears that this was one of Miss Zhang’s requirements, no doubt to prevent the risk of her being tracked down through Miss Wen.’
Wen was instructed by Zhang to buy high value properties in London with the Bitcoin, including a seven-bedroom Hampstead mansion with a swimming pool for £23.5m and a £12.5m eight-bedroom home with a cinema and gym.
Jian Wen took meticulous notes in a Wallace and Gromit notebook showing what was bought and sold in terms of crypto. In this one she said ‘I’ll be dead if they broke the BTC code’ – BTC is a reference to Bitcoin
But the sales did not go ahead as the source of the currency could not be verified.
Wen was arrested in the summer of 2021 after officers raided her home.
Multiple devices were seized including a safety deposit box containing digital wallets including more than 61,000 Bitcoin worth £1.4 billion
‘To legitimately mine the Bitcoin seized in this investigation, 61,000 BTC, you would have to use and pay for roughly the same amount of electricity as that required to power 25,000 domestic households for a year – that’s the size of a town,’ said Ms Jones.
Zhang fled the UK after police raided her address and her whereabouts is currently unknown.
Following her arrest Wen initially claimed the Bitcoin had been mined before claiming it was a ‘love present’ from Zhang.
Ms Jones told the jury: ‘That is quite a pay cheque. You are going to have to look carefully at the circumstances of that purported gift.
‘A gesture by a very generous benefactor pleased with the care and assistance provided, or a device or sham to create an air of legitimacy as to the source of funds when Miss Wen attempted to purchase high value property on behalf of Miss Zhang.’
Wen, of Hampstead, denied three charges but was convicted of one charge of entering or becoming concerned in a money laundering arrangement.
The two remaining charges were dropped by the prosecution.
Judge Sally-Ann Hales, KC, remanded Wen in custody ahead of sentence on May 10.
