This article is reprinted with permission from Mankun Blockchain Legal Services, author: Mankun Law Firm, copyright belongs to the original author.
On September 29, 2025, the largest Bitcoin money laundering case in global history will be heard again. This hearing comes nearly a year after the first hearing last year. On October 21, 2024, at the Southwark Crown Court in London, the core figure of the case, Zhang Yadi (real name Qian Zhimin, also known as Huahua), denied all illegal charges brought by the UK prosecution regarding her use of Bitcoin for money laundering. At this hearing, Huahua's attorney, Roger Sahota from BSQ Law Firm, will continue to adopt a not guilty defense stance, "denies all allegations of money laundering," and claims that the Bitcoin seized by the authorities is not "criminal proceeds."
Who is Zhang Yadi (real name Qian Zhimin, also known as Huahua)? Why does she have so much Bitcoin?
Qian Zhimin is the actual controller of Lantian Ge Rui. The company was established in March 2014 with a registered capital of 30 million yuan, promoting itself as a technology company. Through enticing phrases like "high returns," "guaranteed profits," and "three generations of wealth," it launched several so-called "short-term investment and financial management" products. These products claimed annualized returns between 100% and 300%, far exceeding conventional investment returns. For example, one product claimed that an investment of 100,000 yuan could yield nearly 400,000 yuan after 30 months. Lantian Ge Rui attracted a large number of investors with the slogan, "Give Ge Rui three years, and Ge Rui will return you three generations of wealth."
From 2014 to 2017, Lantian Ge Rui illegally raised funds amounting to 40 billion yuan. In 2017, the company's products "exploded," and Qian Zhimin converted the illegal proceeds into Bitcoin and transferred it overseas, subsequently fleeing to the UK with a fake passport, resulting in significant losses for nearly 130,000 investors. In April 2017, the Hedong Branch of the Tianjin Public Security Bureau initiated an investigation into Lantian Ge Rui. In June 2019, the public security authorities reported that 50 criminal suspects had been arrested, including the legal representative of Lantian Ge Rui, Ren Jiangtao, with 28 of them being transferred for prosecution. The public security authorities continued to carry out asset recovery work, legally freezing and seizing some of the involved funds, properties, and vehicles, and the recovery efforts are still ongoing.
The perspective of the victim on Qian Zhimin
[64-year-old Yang Fei still remembers the scene of meeting Huahua for the first time in October 2015. "To be honest, when I first saw Huahua, I didn't believe it. She is about 1.5 meters tall, chubby, and gives a very dull impression, not like someone who is capable of doing business. I thought, 'Come on, how can this person help ordinary people make money?' I was ready to give up, but once she started speaking, she attracted me." Yang Fei said. Huahua's voice was steady and confident, and she never stuttered. She introduced Yang Fei to Lantian Ge Rui's Bitcoin business, saying that Bitcoin is like gold among digital currencies, will not face inflation, and will continue to rise, predicting "one coin for one villa" in the future. Additionally, Huahua mentioned the international technological development trends at the time, talking about Lantian Ge Rui's plans to develop technology products and become a leader in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. She predicted that there would inevitably be trade wars, technology wars, and financial wars between China and the US in a few years, and as long as investors followed her to mine coins and invest in technology products, they would be able to resist the comprehensive invasion from the US in the future. "She spoke for nearly two hours without urging me to invest, and I didn't feel annoyed; I was able to absorb it all." Yang Fei said that after talking with Huahua that day, he invested over 200,000 yuan.
This striking contrast left a strong first impression on many investors. Investor Ye Houde, who has been in the home building materials business for decades, invested in Lantian Ge Rui in the second half of 2014. He had never heard of Bitcoin before, but after meeting Huahua and seeing her draw simple circles and arrows on a whiteboard to explain Bitcoin and blockchain, he felt he understood, thinking, "Investing in Bitcoin with her is a good opportunity." Subsequently, he bought into every project, investing over 10 million yuan, focusing solely on Bitcoin investments, eventually closing his store and even becoming a small leader, responsible for "popularizing" Bitcoin and Lantian Ge Rui's dynamics to other investors in Tangshan, Hebei, answering their questions.]
— Source: "Sanlian Life Weekly"
From 2017 to 2025, eight years have passed since the Lantian Ge Rui case, and the former protagonist "Huahua" and the investment frenzy she triggered still evoke sighs. Although public information is limited, we can still glimpse the complexity and controversy of this case. It is reported that Huahua attracted 130,000 domestic investors with her keen investment insight and unique personal charm, accumulating an investment amount exceeding 40 billion yuan.
Surprisingly, among the victims are many retired public security and judicial personnel, successful entrepreneurs, and other highly educated individuals. This raises curiosity: what charm did Huahua possess back then that made so many investors flock to her?
From the existing information, Huahua may have had the opportunity to become a well-known cryptocurrency investor. As early as 2014, she recognized the intrinsic value of Bitcoin and blockchain technology, becoming one of the earliest Bitcoin evangelists in the country. She once promised investors: "Bitcoin is the 'gold' among digital currencies, will not face inflation, and its price will continue to rise, with one coin able to exchange for a villa in the future." Looking back, this prediction has, to some extent, become a reality: by 2025, the price of Bitcoin had soared to about $120,000 (nearly one million yuan). If Huahua had indeed purchased Bitcoin for investors back then, she might have already become a "good entrepreneur" leading many to wealth, rather than being a prisoner in the UK today. However, as the ancient saying goes, "Flowers may bloom again, but youth will not return," Huahua's intelligence led to a tragic ending due to being misdirected.
Nevertheless, Huahua's "investment acumen" has left her with a substantial fortune—61,000 Bitcoins (frozen by the UK police, the actual number may be more). This asset is now quite valuable and has become the focus of the case. Just like the collapse of the famous digital currency exchange FTX, where founder SBF was imprisoned, the Solana public chain he left behind has now become one of the public chains with the highest daily active users and the largest DeFi trading volume globally, with related crypto assets also significantly appreciating. In the Lantian Ge Rui case, these 61,000 Bitcoins are undoubtedly an important asset that victims urgently need to claim.
Therefore, we urge victims to take proactive action by scanning the code to report their victim information and adding WeChat, choosing Mankun Law Firm as their representative lawyer. We are confident in helping victims recover their trapped assets from back then.
We will collaborate with professional law firms in the UK to continuously monitor the progress of Zhang Yadi's criminal case, deeply analyze the possibility of recovering frozen assets, and assess whether the frozen Bitcoins can secure the best compensation plan for the victims based on the applicable laws of the criminal case and the evidence presented, striving to recover losses for the victims.
Related: The first judicial case of virtual currency in China: Shanghai court successfully handled 90,000 FIL coins!
Original article: “The Fall of the Bitcoin Queen: The Shocking Secret Behind 61,000 BTC”
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