A 47-year-old woman fled with 50 billion yuan in Bitcoins. Tianjin police latest report

Nakamoto 2025-10-30 18:14 46226人围观 BTC

Who is Qian Zhimin? On October 30, the Tianjin police issued a briefing on the "Tianjin Blue Sky Gerui Electronic Technology Co., Ltd.'s suspected illegal absorption of public deposits." It pointed out that the public security organs are still continuing

Who is Qian Zhimin?

On October 30, the Tianjin police issued a briefing on the "Tianjin Blue Sky Gerui Electronic Technology Co., Ltd.'s suspected illegal absorption of public deposits." It pointed out that the public security organs are still continuing to cooperate with British law enforcement agencies in cross-border pursuit of fugitives and recovering stolen goods, and are doing their best to recover the losses of fund-raising participants.

A month ago, the UK’s largest Bitcoin money laundering case opened in London. The protagonist of the case is Qian Zhimin, the main culprit in the case of Tianjin Blue Sky Gerui Electronic Technology Co., Ltd. illegally absorbing public deposits. On the same day, Qian Zhimin pleaded guilty in court, admitting to possessing and transferring cryptocurrency obtained from crime.

"China News Weekly" once reported that more than 128,000 people were defrauded in this case, involving 61,000 Bitcoins (nearly 50 billion yuan). The case has attracted domestic and international attention since it was exposed. It is considered one of the largest cryptocurrency money laundering cases in the UK and globally.

According to the progress of the trial, Qian Zhimin gave up his previous defense idea and chose to plead guilty on the first day of trial. Qian Zhimin's guilty plea greatly shortened the original trial period of 12 to 14 weeks. Next, the case entered the sentencing and sentencing stages. For the Chinese investors in the Blue Sky Gurui case, Qian Zhimin’s guilty plea has also made them focus on a new focus - where will the 61,000 bitcoins involved in the case go?

A victim told China News Weekly: “We are paying attention to the news of the British trial, and the Chinese police have also been actively pursuing money. This is all hope. ”

The following is a report from China News Weekly on May 19, 2024:

“The boss of "I will give you wealth for three lifetimes" ran away with 61,000 Bitcoins

As an "investor" in financial products of Tianjin Blue Sky Green Electronic Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Blue Sky Green"), Zhang Li (pseudonym) from Hohhot, Inner Mongolia has only met Qian Zhimin, the boss behind Blue Sky Green, once. At that time, Zhang Li, like most of the "investors" in Blue Sky Green, did not know Qian Zhimin's real name. She only knew that her name was Huahua, which was very mysterious.

It was the autumn of 2016. Zhang Li attended a promotion meeting organized by Blue Sky Green with thousands of people in Beijing, and Qian Zhimin showed up. It was a crazy scene: Qian Zhimin was wearing a pink and white veil, sitting in a wheelchair, and was lifted up in the aisle leading to the conference stage. Everyone was holding Qian Zhimin high while shouting slogans, one of which was "Wealth for three generations" - it comes from the slogan of Blue Sky Grei: "You give Grei three years, and Grei will give you three lives of wealth. ”

After 8 years, Qian Zhimin has attracted more people's attention. In March 2024, the British media reported a Bitcoin money laundering case involving Qian Zhimin. In this case, the British police locked 61,000 bitcoins, which would be worth more than 32 billion yuan based on the highest price of bitcoin market value since 2024. This is the largest cryptocurrency money laundering case ever investigated in the UK. The owner of these Bitcoins is Qian Zhimin.

Picture/Visual China

A British judicial document obtained by "China News Weekly" describes: The 61,000 Bitcoins were mainly purchased with the proceeds of criminal activities committed by Qian Zhimin in China. Qian Zhimin is the owner and controller of Blue Sky Gerui. After the Chinese police investigated Blue Sky Gerui, Qian Zhimin fled China in July 2017 and arrived in the UK in September 2017 with a passport in the name of Yadi Zhang. She hired a Chinese woman named Wen Jian in the UK to assist with money laundering. Wen Jian was arrested in May 2021, tried in 2023, and later found guilty of money laundering. Qian Zhimin fled for a time. In late April 2024, British media reported that Qian Zhimin was arrested in the UK and was remanded in custody.

A series of questions surrounding Lan Tiange Rui and Qian Zhimin were asked by the public: Who is Qian Zhimin? How did she manage to escape? What will happen to the 61,000 Bitcoins?

The mysterious "Huahua"”

In an interview with a reporter from "China News Weekly", more than one "investor" of Blue Sky Gerui recalled the scene when "Huahua" appeared in front of them and deliberately covered his face.

Zheng Zhengge (pseudonym) is a teacher in Wuxi County, Chongqing. He came into contact with Blue Sky Gerui in 2016 when his high school classmate introduced it. At that time, Zheng Zhengge and his wife each invested 60,000 yuan in the product with the attitude of giving it a try.

Public judgment documents show that on March 31, 2014, Qian Zhimin registered Blue Sky Green in Tianjin. Blue Sky Green has seven regions including Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Northeast China, East China, South China, Central China, Northwest China, and Southwest China to manage the sales of financial products across the country. From April 2014 to August 2017, Blue Sky Green launched ten financial products, using 1 to 3 times the return on investment as bait to illegally absorb public deposits.

Zheng Zhengge and his wife invested in Blue Sky Grei’s seventh financial product, the Carnival Franchise Plan. According to the agreement, the "service bonus" of the plan is a bonus issued every working day during the 30 months of "investment". The amount of the bonus will gradually increase every 6 months, specifically: 100 yuan each from the 1st to 6th month. ； 200 yuan per copy from 7th to 12th month ； 300 yuan per copy from the 13th to the 18th month ； 400 yuan per copy from 19th to 24th month ； 500 yuan each for the 25th to 30th month.

Zheng Zhengge recalled: “We have been observing for a while, and it does return money according to time. In this way, it is possible to return the capital in more than 20 months, and the total return will be two or three times the profit. So I invested more money later, until Blue Sky Gerui exploded in July 2017, with a total investment of more than 1 million yuan. ”

The person on the right wearing a mask is Qian Zhimin. Picture/provided by interviewee

During the two years when she invested in Blue Sky Green, Zheng Zhengge’s wife met “Huahua”. When the conference is held, "Huahua" will wear a mask, sit in a wheelchair, and sit in front of the conference venue. "Investors" are not allowed to bring mobile phones, and they are not allowed to take pictures or videos. Zheng Zhengge didn't know what "Huahua"'s real name was until Lantian Gerui's incident. Looking back, it was Zhang Li who let "investors" like Zheng Zhengge know the name "Qian Zhimin".

Zhang Li came into contact with Blue Sky Gerui in 2016, when she was still working in the education system of Inner Mongolia. A friend of hers who retired from the local procuratorate is Lantian Gerui's "net head" in Hohhot. Under the influence of this friend, she bought a financial product from Blue Sky Green, a carnival investment plan, priced at 60,000 yuan each. Later, under the influence of Zhang Li, four of her relatives and friends also bought one each, with a total investment of 300,000 yuan. By July 2017, Blue Sky Green became popular, with each person receiving a rebate of more than 20,000 yuan.

Among the "investors" of Blue Sky Green, Zhang Li and her relatives and friends were the ones who suffered very little loss. Zheng Zhengge recalled that many "investors" would invest their returned money again, and the snowball kept getting bigger and bigger, especially from April to July 2017 before the Blue Sky Gurui incident. At this time, the police had already launched an investigation into Blue Sky Gurui. Unknown to the "investors," Blue Sky Gurui held one promotion meeting after another in various places, and many people invested all their rebate money.

Zhang Li did not follow suit. Before investing in Blue Sky Green, Zhang Li went to Beijing at least twice to attend Blue Sky Green's conference. The first time was in May and June of 2016, and the second time was in the autumn of 2016. It was at the second promotion conference that Zhang Li attended that she witnessed "Huahua" in a wheelchair and wearing a veil being held up again and again by everyone. She felt that Blue Sky Green was like a pyramid scheme. “When several new products came out later, I told everyone that none of us should invest in them again.”

The thunderstorm in the blue sky occurred on July 27, 2017. Zhang Li recalled that Lantian Greui stopped returning money that day. She asked the friend who introduced her to the investment and was told that the relevant state departments were going to conduct an internal inspection on Blue Sky Green and that the rebates would continue after the inspection was completed. Zhang Li waited for a week, but the rebate was still not restored. She discussed the matter in an "investor" WeChat group and was kicked out of the group. On December 5, 2017, she called the police in Inner Mongolia, and on December 7, she went to the Chunhua Road Police Station of the Hedong Branch of the Tianjin Public Security Bureau, where Lantian Gerui is located.

Zhang Li was one of the first "investors" to call the police after the thunderstorm in Lantian Gerui. At the Chunhua Road Police Station, the police told Zhang Li the real name of "Huahua", and Zhang Li sent the news to another "investor" WeChat group. Only then did everyone know that "Huahua" was Qian Zhimin.

Qian Zhimin himself

Regarding Qian Zhimin, almost no "investors" know the details. The only public information and unconfirmed legends of Blue Sky Gerui are spread by word of mouth.

Blue Sky Gerui publicized that "Huahua" graduated from Tsinghua University, has double doctorates, studied in the United States and understands finance. "Investor" Han Xinghai (pseudonym) from Shenyang heard that "Huahua" brought back a lot of technology from the United States. He once asked "Huahua" at a promotion meeting why she was not allowed to take pictures. "She said it was because American technology was brought back to her and if it was revealed, the United States would impose sanctions on her."

In late April 2024, British media reported that after Qian Zhimin was arrested in the UK, the date of birth she provided to the court as Yadi Zhang was November 10, 1990. China News Weekly learned from an unnamed source that this date may not be true. The source said Qian Zhimin was born in Rugao, Jiangsu Province in September 1978. He had a college degree and was married but later divorced.

Qian Zhimin's early experiences are still unknown to the outside world. "China News Weekly" learned that in 2013, she was involved in a pyramid scheme case in Hefei, Anhui. At that time, Qian Zhimin used the pseudonym "Li Xia". There were many people involved in the case and huge funds were involved. After the case, someone was arrested and sentenced, while Qian Zhimin, the trader, has been on the run. This may explain why Qian Zhimin deliberately maintained a mysterious image during the later trading period of Blue Sky Gerui and was unwilling to show his openness to others.

The scene of a promotion meeting of Blue Sky Gerui. Picture/provided by interviewee

A verdict issued by the People's Court of Yaohai District, Hefei City in December 2014 against Zhao for organizing and leading pyramid schemes describes the ins and outs of the pyramid scheme case. The court found after trial that in late March 2013, Zhao joined the "Hong Kong UBS International Group Co., Ltd." (hereinafter referred to as "Hong Kong UBS International") pyramid selling organization organized by Qian Zhimin and others. In the name of "investing in camellia oil projects," the organization attracted others to join through online publicity, on-site teaching, on-site inspections and other means. The organization implements a membership system, requiring each person to pay 2,800 yuan to qualify for membership. There is no limit to multiple investments. The number of downline personnel is used as the basis for calculation or rebate.

In Zhao's case, Li Xia, the actual person in charge of UBS International in Hong Kong, was Qian Zhimin. Zhao confessed that UBS International Hong Kong was registered and established in Hong Kong in September 2012. Its chairman is Li Xia. Its office in Hefei is located in Hengfeng Building in Yaohai District. In front of the office, there are two brands of UBS International Hong Kong and Hefei Fuyongquan Grain and Oil Food Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Fuyongquan Grain and Oil Company"). Li Xia is not often in the company, and others are responsible for her daily work.

The company uses the packaging of UBS International, an overseas company in Hong Kong, to promote the Fuyongquan Grain and Oil Company and the 60,000-acre camellia base in Tianzhu Mountain to attract people to conduct on-site inspections by reimbursing travel expenses, accommodation expenses, etc. If you become a member, you can buy the company's camellia oil at a 50% or 60% discount for life and enjoy rebates.

Fuyongquan Grain and Oil Company is a partner specially found by Qian Zhimin to attract "members". Wang Moujia, general manager of Fuyongquan Grain and Oil Company, testified that in early March 2013, a woman claiming to be Li Xia of UBS International in Hong Kong came to their company and designated a gift box of camellia oil products worth 700,000 yuan to be purchased from the company. After negotiation, the two parties signed a cooperation agreement. In accordance with the requirements of the agreement, the company provided an office for UBS International in Hong Kong in the factory area. At the end of March, UBS International in Hong Kong organized a group of people to visit. The company found that the groups of people they brought were very mixed and irregular, so they immediately stopped the visit and no longer provided factory offices. In May 2013, Fuyongquan Grain and Oil Company terminated its production cooperation agreement with UBS International in Hong Kong.

Zhao confessed that starting from mid-June 2013, the company's website and membership system were abnormal, and cash withdrawals were also abnormal. The company explained that the website upgrade and system were hacked, and the third-party payment account was frozen. On the morning of July 1, 2013, Li Xia sent a message to company employees to tell them not to worry and that she was collecting money. At 13:00 noon that day, the company's website could no longer be accessed.

In November 2013, Zhao was arrested and later sentenced to two years in prison for organizing and leading pyramid schemes. Qian Zhimin was "handled in another case."

Less than a year after the MLM case in Hefei was investigated and dealt with, on March 31, 2014, Qian Zhimin, who was at large, registered and established Blue Sky Green in Tianjin.

“Well designed trap”

The routine of field inspections has been completely transplanted to Blue Sky Gray's projects - some "investors" are not here for financial products, but for Blue Sky Gray's other businesses.

In late February and early March 2017, Blue Sky Green “investors” from Shenyang were organized to Tianjin to inspect Bitcoin mines. At that time, Blue Sky Green publicly announced that it had Bitcoin mines in Tianjin and other places, and was recruiting investments for mining.

One of the "investors" Wang Yaya (pseudonym) recalled that there were hundreds of people who went to inspect the project from Shenyang, and they paid for their own fares, while accommodation and meals were free of charge. After so many years, she no longer remembers the location of the Bitcoin mine in Tianjin. She only remembers that "there are warehouses after warehouses in that place. There is a slogan saying "Tianjin Blue Sky Gerui Bitcoin Warehouse" and it is built on an open space." When they visited, the mining machines were not in use. “The team leader said that because we were here, we were afraid of radiation, so the power was cut off.” It wasn't until the thunderstorm broke out in the blue sky that Wang Yaya heard someone say that the mining machines they visited back then were just some "junk things" that "created an illusion to make us invest."

“An investment agreement for a financial product signed between “Investor” and Blue Sky Greui. Picture/provided by interviewee

Wang Yaya recalled that that time they stayed in a hotel in the suburbs of Tianjin. The hotel was filled with "investors" like her from all over the country. "They were all full of people."

Before the inspection, Wang Yaya had invested in Blue Sky Green, but it was only a "small investment." The on-site inspection made her decide to invest in a large amount. Until the explosion, she invested more than 800,000 yuan.

According to China News Weekly, not all of the Bitcoin mines set up by Blue Sky Greui in many places are props or decorations. After being arrested, Ren Jiangtao, the legal person of Blue Sky Green, confessed that the business assigned by Qian Zhimin to the company included the mining of Bitcoin and Dotcoin. He was responsible for maintaining the mining farm and mining machines, and transferring the mined virtual coins to Qian Zhimin from time to time.

Pan, the person in charge of the custodian of the Blue Sky Gerui Mine, once testified that they were responsible for installing the mining machines. The mining machines and electricity bills were provided by Qian Zhimin. Qian Zhimin also sent people to connect to the network. The mined Bitcoins were put into Qian Zhimin's online wallet. In 2014, Lantian Gerui took people to visit the mine several times. By 2017, all the mining machines were obsolete and sold as scrap at a price of 30 yuan each.

What attracted Shenyang "investor" Han Xinghai was not Bitcoin mining, but a life bracelet from Blue Sky Gray. In October 2015, he, a former doctor, attended the product launch conference. According to reports, the life bracelet is equipped with a chip. One of its functions is dual positioning through GPS and Beidou. The positioning position does not exceed 15 meters. "From now on, an elderly person will no longer be lost." If an elderly person needs help, press the red button on the bracelet and "an ambulance will be at your side within 10 minutes."

Blue Sky Gree also released a number of other products at that time. According to Han Xinghai's recollection, there were anti-smog air freshening devices and anti-fatigue safety belts, among which there was an air freshening device called Big Blue. "Huahua said that in crowded places, the company can install Big Blue for free. It can filter 300 square meters of air every 15 minutes, including viruses, smoke and other toxic substances, which can be analyzed by the company's supercomputer." The anti-fatigue seat belt is equipped with a chip. "When driving, once you become fatigued, it will automatically alarm and remind you through changes in heart rate and respiratory pulse. ”Han Xinghai said.

The office of Blue Sky Gerui Company located in the Fujian Building in Hedong District, Tianjin has been sealed. Photography/Staff reporter Liu Xiangnan

At the promotion meeting, Blue Sky Gerui claimed that these products were independently developed by the company or in cooperation with other institutions. During Ren Jiangtao's trial, Qian Zhimin's assistant Li testified that when Blue Sky Grei launched a new financial product, it would hold a product launch conference, and Qian Zhimin and Ren Jiangtao would usually attend and speak. There are seven types of products corresponding to financial products, namely Life Ring, Xiaolan Anti-haze Purifier, Dabai Electronic Sterilizer, Duoduo Robot, Blue and White Desktop Air Purifier, Purification Mask and Dalan City Air Purifier. These products are purchased from manufacturers in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

Blue Sky Green once established a life circle project service center and set up more than 200 physical stores. Song, the operations director of the Life Circle Project Center, testified that during the process of his assuming the supervisory position, he gradually realized that the real purpose of Blue Sky Green's establishment of this service center was to expand the company's influence and then sell financial products.

Han Xinghai was attracted by participating in many product promotion meetings. His investment began in October 2015, with more than 12 million yuan invested. “Blue Sky Gerui is a well-designed trap. ”Zheng Zhengge said.

Many people were sentenced and "Huahua" escaped

"China News Weekly" learned that on April 21, 2017, the public security agency opened a case for investigation because it was discovered that Lantian Gerui was suspected of illegally absorbing public deposits. In June 2019, the Hedong Branch of the Tianjin Municipal Public Security Bureau issued a notice that the public security organs arrested a total of 50 criminal suspects including Ren Jiangtao, the legal representative of Blue Sky Green, and 28 of them have been transferred for review and prosecution.

In February 2021, the Tianjin Hedong District People's Court publicly heard the case of Ren Jiangtao, a legal representative of Blue Sky Gerui. Also on trial with Ren was his assistant Huang Yafang, who was also Ren's girlfriend. After a trial, the court found that between June 2014 and August 2017, Ren served as the legal representative of Blue Sky Gerui and participated in the illegal absorption of more than 40.2 billion yuan in public deposits. ； Huang participated in illegally absorbing more than 17.6 billion yuan in public deposits. In September 2021, the court sentenced Ren Huo to 10 years in prison and a fine of 500,000 yuan, and Huang Huo was sentenced to 5 years in prison and fined 250,000 yuan.

Ren Jiangtao confessed that he met Qian Zhimin through playing online games. Because he completely obeyed Qian Zhimin's command in the game, Qian Zhimin asked him to serve as the legal person of Blue Sky Gerui, but in fact it was only in name, and the specific work was arranged by Qian Zhimin. At that time, he verbally agreed to work for three years, and Qian Zhimin gave him 1 million yuan, and also agreed on a monthly salary of 30,000 yuan. However, he actually only received 12,000 to 15,000 yuan per month. He stopped receiving it after more than a year, and he did not receive the 1 million yuan previously agreed.

In addition, "China News Weekly" learned that when the public security organs were investigating the Blue Sky Green case, they discovered that Wu Xiaolong, the general manager of Blue Sky Green, had fled, and they launched an online pursuit of him. Wu Xiaolong once tried to sneak out of the country, but failed. In September 2017, he was captured in a southern county in Sichuan. In November 2021, the Tianjin Hedong District People's Court found Wu Xiaolong guilty of illegally absorbing public deposits at first instance and was sentenced to eight years and six months in prison and fined 500,000 yuan. The court found after trial that from August 2014 to July 2017, Wu Xiaolong, as the head of the sales team of Blue Sky Green financial products, illegally absorbed more than 8.7 billion yuan in public deposits.

This is not the first time Wu Xiaolong has been arrested. In August 2016, Wu Xiaolong was arrested on suspicion of illegal fund-raising when he held a Blue Sky Green product promotion meeting in Linghai City, Liaoning Province. Under the instruction of Qian Zhimin, Fan from Blue Sky Green approached Huo Jian, then deputy secretary and deputy manager of the Linghai Water Company, for help. Huo Jian then asked Zhang Lie, then deputy captain of the Economic Investigation Brigade of the Linghai Municipal Public Security Bureau, and Wu Xiaolong was released on bail pending trial. During this process, Huo Jian accepted 6.7 million yuan in benefits from Blue Sky Gree, and Zhang Lie received 8.3 million yuan. Huo Jian and Zhang Lie were both sentenced in 2023.

As for Qian Zhimin, before the public security organs opened the case for investigation, in February 2017, she asked her then-boyfriend Zhao Moufeng to help her sneak across the border. Zhao Moufeng runs an antique company in Shanghai. With Zhao's help, Qian Zhimin fled across the border. Details of his escape are unknown. China News Weekly contacted Tianjin police, but the police did not accept an interview.

How can 61,000 Bitcoins be “recovered”?”

According to a special audit, from August 2014 to July 2017, Blue Sky Gerui absorbed a total of more than 40.2 billion yuan in funds, all of which were controlled and managed by Qian Zhimin. From April 2014 to August 2017, Blue Sky Grei refunded more than 34.1 billion yuan to 128,409 people, which was used to purchase jewelry of more than 95.68 million yuan, real estate to purchase more than 91.89 million yuan, daily operating expenses of more than 210 million yuan, and life circle customer service center project expenditures of more than 120 million yuan. In addition, it is worth noting that more than 1.14 billion yuan of it was used to purchase Bitcoin.

The "Zhang Yadi (Qian Zhimin) and Wen Jian money laundering case" that has attracted media attention recently involved a total of 61,000 Bitcoins. According to British judicial documents on the case obtained by China News Weekly, most of the 61,000 Bitcoins are believed to have come from Qian Zhimin's large-scale fraud crimes in China. In June 2014, Qian Zhimin opened a digital currency trading account in the name of Ren Jiangtao and used more than 1.1 billion yuan of stolen money to purchase Bitcoin.

How does Qian Zhimin use Bitcoin to launder money? According to Liu Yang, a lawyer at Beijing DeHeng Law Firm who continues to pay attention to virtual digital currencies, Qian Zhimin’s so-called money laundering behavior through Bitcoin is not complicated. Qian Zhimin fled to the UK in September 2017. On September 4 of the same year, seven ministries and commissions including the central bank issued the "Announcement on Preventing Financing Risks of Token Issuance." Since then, virtual digital currency exchanges have closed the exchange channel for RMB and virtual digital currencies. In other words, Qian Zhimin could use the stolen money to directly purchase Bitcoin on the trading platform before the incident. In addition, the lack of anti-money laundering measures such as the account real-name system at the time made it easy for her to flee abroad with the Bitcoin.

In Liu Yang's view, the 61,000 bitcoins held by Qian Zhimin would be worth more than 32 billion yuan if calculated based on the highest price of bitcoin market value since 2024.

Liu Yang believes that "at present, the evidence of capital flow should be fixed to the maximum extent to prove that the 61,000 Bitcoins seized in the UK are related to the Blue Sky Gurui case", which may help recover these Bitcoins.
Published in the 1140th issue of "China News Weekly" magazine on May 20, 2024. Magazine title: Behind the 61,000 Bitcoin Case
Reporter: Liu Xiangnan
Editor: Xu Tian
Operations Editor: Wang Lin