HUGE LOSSES
Police surveillance of Qian’s co-defendant Ling led to her arrest in April 2024, and cash, gold and cryptocurrencies totalling 11 million pounds were seized.
Before the arrest, London police made what they believe to be the largest cryptocurrency seizure in history: more than 61,000 bitcoins, worth over US$6 billion at current rates.
William Glover of law firm Fieldfisher told AFP the case was “possibly the largest legal case of its kind in terms of value involving an individual and not a corporate”.
Some of his clients had suffered enormous personal losses that had affected their lives, marriages and families, he said.
According to Jackson Ng of Duan & Duan, who is representing other investors, the defendant organised public events while claiming to have government support.
People who were not seasoned investors and were not “going to check everything” were drawn in and exploited, he said.
One Chinese couple, office workers in their 40s, lost hundreds of thousands of dollars they had saved for their retirement and their daughter, after attending a presentation in 2016.
The promised return on their investment stopped being paid out in 2017. Their daughter has now broken off all contact with them, Ng said.
Fuelled by growing interest, bitcoin, which was trading at around US$3,600 at the end of 2018, is currently hovering around US$100,000.
Details of a compensation scheme proposed by the British authorities are still being thrashed out in London’s High Court in civil proceedings.
Around 1,300 alleged victims have come forward, according to sources close to the case.
