$7.3 billion worth of cryptocurrency recovered from newly convicted 'Bitcoin Queen' — funds from fraudster thought to be the largest seizure to date

The Metropolitan Police seized $7.3 billion in bitcoin from Zhimin Qian, known as the "Bitcoin Queen," who defrauded over 128,000 victims through a large-scale operation. This marks the largest cryptocurrency seizure to date, with Qian orchestrating the fraud from 2014 to 2017 and storing the funds in Bitcoin. Qian fled to the UK in 2018 to launder the crypto, leading to her recent conviction. The case is described as one of the largest money laundering cases in UK history and among the highest-value cryptocurrency cases globally.