Mastermind in $5 billion scam wanted to be a ‘goddess’, planned to build kingdom

Zhimin Qian, the mastermind behind a crypto scam of over $5 billion, wanted to be crowned a ‘goddess’.

Published on: Sep 30, 2025, 08:11:39 IST

By Sanya Jain

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The mastermind in what is being called the ‘world’s largest theft’ is a woman who wanted to be a ‘goddess’ and had plans to build her own kingdom. Zhimin Qian, also known as Yadi Zhang, has pleaded guilty to money laundering offences after British authorities seized devices from her holding 61,000 bitcoins, worth more than £5.5 billion at current prices.

Zhimin Qian, 47, has pleaded guilty to money laundering offences

The Metropolitan police believe it is the largest single cryptocurrency seizure in the world, according to a report in The Guardian.

Zhimin Qian’s crypto scam

Zhimin Qian, 47, scammed thousands of people in China between 2014 and 2017. She ran a Chinese company called Tianjin Lantian Gerui Electronic Technology which promised investors returns of up to 300 per cent.

Instead of selling legitimate investment products, the firm was simply funneling investors’ money into cryptocurrency.

Qian managed to scam 128,000 investors in China before fleeing to the UK in September 2017.

The money she scammed was stored in bitcoin. UK authorities made a breakthrough in the case in 2018, when they raided her home and found digital wallets with 61,000 bitcoins – worth £1.4 billion at the time it was found. It is currently worth over £5.5 billion at current rates ($6.7 billion approximately).

Arrest and sentencing

Qian was arrested in April 2024 after spending years on the run.

On Monday, at Southwark Crown Court, she admitted to acquiring and holding cryptocurrency linked to criminal property between October 2017 and April 2024.

The 47-year-old appeared in court wearing glasses, a brown cardigan and an animal print top. She admitted to possessing and transferring criminal property on the first day of her trial at Southwark Crown Court. She was remanded in custody, with sentencing to follow at a later date.

Plans to become a goddess

UK police had earlier seized Qian’s digital diary where she recorded her desire to be anointed “Reincarnated Goddess” by the Dalai Lama.

According to a Financial Times report, her diary also contained her plans to rule over a kingdom called “Liberland”. This unrecognised and uninhabited micronation, over which she wanted to reign, was located on the Danube between Croatia and Serbia.

The crypto scammer also had plans for a £5million crown and sceptre, a Buddhist temple in her kingdom, and facilities for an airport and port.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sanya Jain
Sanya Jain is an Assistant Editor with Hindustan Times Digital. She has nearly a decade of experience in covering offbeat stories that speak to the everyday experience - from viral videos to human interest copies that spark conversation. Her interests stretch across business, pop culture, social media trends, entertainment and global affairs. Before joining Hindustan Times, Sanya spent two years with Moneycontrol and five years with NDTV. She holds an undergraduate degree in English literature from St Stephen’s College, Delhi, and a master’s in journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications, Mumbai. Sanya has a sharp eye for spotting emerging trends and looking for newsworthy angles to elevate viral posts into meaningful narratives. She was the first one, for example, to cover Narayana Murthy’s remark on 70-hour work weeks that sparked a national conversation. She is equally at ease writing about business leaders as about the common man, about issues of national importance and memes that amuse social media. Sanya enjoys speaking with content creators, newsmakers and entrepreneurs to transform everyday moments into engaging, slice-of-life stories that resonate with readers. When she is not working, Sanya can be found curled up with a good book. Born and raised in Lucknow, she has spent the last several years in Delhi. She is deeply interested in animal welfare and now spends a lot of her time running after her destructive orange cat.Read More

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