A Chinese woman appeared in a London court this week accused of laundering billions in funds stolen from Chinese citizens. Wen Jian, 44, allegedly helped hide and transfer £5 billion defrauded from nearly 130,000 Chinese investors between 2014-2017.
According to the news report, prosecutors claim Wen worked with Zhang Yadi, the alleged Chinese fraud schemes, to launder money stolen from victims. After Chinese authorities began investigating, Zhang fled to the UK in 2017 under a false identity. She allegedly used Wen to help convert the stolen money from Bitcoin into cash and assets in the UK.
Wen does not dispute handling the Bitcoin but denies knowing it was connected to Zhang’s alleged fraud operation. Her defense claims she was an unknowing participant. The trial, expected to end in March, depends on whether the board believes Wen knew about the criminal origins of the money.
Zhang remains at large internationally. None of the £5 billion has been returned to the Chinese victims. Authorities have made arrests in China related to the fraud schemes but have been unable to catch Zhang or recover investor funds.
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