- A Tianjin court set a 6-month window for victims to join the $5.1B asset case.
- The prosecutors’ filing says over 102,000 people lost money, about 19.98B yuan in total.
- Apart from over 61,890 BTC, the filing also covers Bitcoin Cash, XRP, and Dogecoin.
Prosecutors in China want to take control of more than 61,890 Bitcoin, worth about $5.1 billion, that UK authorities seized in a big investment fraud case tied to Zhimin Qian.
A Tianjin court has accepted the request, starting a six-month window for victims and other affected parties to join the case. The court accepted the application on September 28 and posted its notice on October 13.
The case centers on assets that allegedly came from a big fundraising scam run in China between 2014 and 2017.
Prosecutors in China say Qian ran Tianjin Lantian Gerui Electronic Technology, a company that sold bogus wealth management products promising guaranteed returns. The scheme reportedly pulled in over 40.37 billion yuan (roughly $5.7 billion at recent exchange rates) from investors across the country.
The prosecutors’ filing says over 102,000 people lost money, about 19.98 billion yuan (around $2.99 billion)) in total. Authorities claim some of those proceeds went toward buying Bitcoin and other assets before Qian fled China in 2017.
British police later seized crypto and other property tied to the case. In November 2025, Qian was sentenced to 11 years and eight months behind bars in the UK after pleading guilty to money laundering.
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The Confiscation Case Extends Beyond Bitcoin
Besides over 61,890 BTC, the filing also covers Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Gold, Bitcoin SV, around 3.6 million XRP, and roughly 70 million Dogecoin, all of which UK authorities have already turned into cash and put in an interest-bearing account.
Cash, jewelry, bank balances, and investment holdings are part of the claim as well.
Prosecutors claim the assets were obtained illegally and should be taken back to pay back the victims, while any remaining property would be officially seized by the government under Chinese law.
The six-month notice window lets Qian’s relatives and other interested parties take part. Victims can sign up through a WeChat mini-program, but even those who don’t join the proceedings are reportedly still eligible to get money back from recovered assets.
So far, last week, the UK High Court decided that Chinese law should apply to victims’ claims over crypto. That ruling didn’t settle who ultimately owns the funds, and approximately 16,000 victims have since been granted permission to appeal.
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Related: UK Recovers £5.6M From Hok Seng Ling as Victims Fight for 61,000 Bitcoin
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