A Chinese woman charged for her role in laundering the proceeds of a multi-billion dollar fraud scheme is now reportedly behind bars.
According to Reuters, Wen Jian was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison on Friday after jurors found her guilty of one charge of money laundering in March.
Prosecutors say Wen converted Bitcoin (BTC) into cash and property to conceal the source of money allegedly stolen from nearly 130,000 investors in a $6.4 billion wealth scheme that took place in China between 2014 and 2017 .
The plan is believed to have been hatched by another woman who fled to Britain in 2017 after Chinese authorities began their investigation. Wen is said to have served as the frontman who helped convert the stolen funds into Bitcoin to get them out of China.
Wen denied the money laundering allegations and said she had no knowledge of the crime associated with Bitcoin. She claims she was just trying to give her son a better life, but prosecutors say she should have known the money was illegally obtained.
Judge Sally-Ann Hales said there was no evidence Wen was involved in the underlying fraud, but reportedly told the 42-year-old that “you undoubtedly knew” she was dealing with criminal property.
The case involves one of the largest seizures of cryptocurrency by law enforcement in the world. In 2021, British police officers conducting investigations seized wallets containing more than 61,000 BTC, valued at around $1.8 billion at the time. The confiscated BTC is now worth approximately $4.2 billion at Bitcoin’s current price of $69,227.61.
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