Chinese Tianjin Police: Cooperating with UK Law Enforcement on Cross-Border Pursuit and Asset Recovery in the Qian Zhimin Case

On October 30th, the Hedong Sub-bureau of the Tianjin Public Security Bureau in China issued a notice today. It stated that the police are currently collaborating with UK law enforcement agencies in cross-border fugitive repatriation and asset recovery work. They are making every effort to recover the losses of participants in the fundraising scheme. The police also reminded investors to express their demands rationally and legally. They should be vigilant against unauthorized cross-border "asset recovery agents" to avoid falling victim to fraud again. Previously reported, on September 29th, Qian Zhimin, the main offender in a 60,000 Bitcoin money laundering case, pleaded guilty in the Southwark Crown Court in London. She admitted to illegally obtaining and holding cryptocurrency-related crimes. From 2014 to 2017, she led a large-scale fraud in China, defrauding more than 128,000 victims and storing the proceeds in Bitcoin assets. This case involves issues such as cross-border money laundering and cryptocurrency asset recovery and is regarded as a milestone test for the supervision and governance of cross-border financial crimes in the digital currency era. Qian Zhimin was accused of illegally raising approximately 43 billion yuan through Ponzi scheme-like "investment and wealth management" products via Tianjin Lantian Ge Rui Electronic Technology Co., Ltd. from 2014 to 2017, with 130,000 victims.