A $5 billion Bitcoin fortune is at stake, but UK court says being defrauded isn’t enough to claim it

A London judge rejected Chinese fraud victims' bid to use English law to claim more than 61,000 seized Bitcoin.

In an Oct. 12 ruling, High Court Justice Mark Turner sided with British prosecutors, determining that Chinese law must govern ownership claims over the cryptocurrency, currently worth approximately $5 billion.

“The applicable law is Chinese law,” Turner wrote in the judgment, rejecting arguments that English property and trust principles should determine the investors' entitlement.

The decision leaves thousands of victims facing a potentially difficult recovery battle, as proving they lost money to the fraud does not automatically establish ownership of the Bitcoin acquired with its proceeds.

The case stems from investment schemes operated by Zhimin Qian through Tianjin Lantian Gerui Electronic Technology and associated businesses between 2014 and 2017.

According to the judgment's agreed factual background, the schemes collected approximately 40.23 billion yuan (£4.1 billion) through at least 128,409 investment contracts.

However, the court cautioned that the number of contracts should not be mistaken for the number of individual victims.

The records also revealed substantial repayments to some participants. Approximately 34.1 billion yuan (£3.4 billion) flowed back to investors during the scheme's operation, although others received nothing.

Qian converted part of the proceeds into Bitcoin, including purchases of more than 100,000 BTC through an account on cryptocurrency exchange Huobi, alongside over-the-counter transactions conducted in China.

After fleeing China in 2017, she relocated to Britain, where authorities subsequently seized devices, private keys and other assets linked to more than 61,000 Bitcoin.

The recovered cryptocurrency became the subject of civil recovery proceedings initiated by Britain's Director of Public Prosecutions under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

Chinese investors later sought to establish ownership of the coins, arguing that English legal principles could let them trace their stolen investments into the cryptocurrency Qian acquired.

They argued that fraudulent investment contracts could be rescinded, creating trust-based ownership interests that followed the money into Bitcoin.

British prosecutors opposed that approach, maintaining that the original transactions and alleged acquisition of ownership rights occurred in China.

Turner agreed, finding that the investors, perpetrators, payments and cryptocurrency purchases were overwhelmingly connected to China.

The judge also rejected the argument that Bitcoin's eventual presence in Britain should determine which country's property laws applied.