A businessman has accused his wife of stealing £180 million of bitcoin by secretly filming inside their home to obtain his security passwords.
Ping Fai Yuen told the High Court that his cryptocurrency was taken by Fun Yung Li while they discussed getting divorced.
Ping, 44, claims his wife set up a secret CCTV system to record where he sat and hid his security passwords at the family home, in one of the most exclusive roads in Brighton.
He is suing his wife and sister-in-law for the cryptocurrency. The value of the bitcoin has been estimated between £160 million and £180 million during the case.
The bitcoin was held in an address on a “blockchain” digital ledger. The access key for the ledger was held on a “cold wallet” digital device — a type of storage which is not connected to the internet and is protected by a six-digit PIN.
However, anyone with access to Yuen’s “seed phrase” — a set of 24 words used as a master password — could recreate the wallet on a separate device.
The businessman claims that in July 2023 his eldest daughter told him his wife was trying to take his bitcoin. He installed audio recording equipment in the home which he claims proves beyond doubt that Li “obtained the seed phrase and exfiltrated the bitcoin”.
Ping Fai Yuen
One recording allegedly captures his wife discussing CCTV which was set up in the home. Recording transcripts include: “The bitcoin has transferred to me but can it be seen that you have taken it?” and, “It is OK. Take all of it.”
Ping’s wife was also recorded discussing the risk of being referred to the police for money laundering because it was such a large amount, the court heard.
The businessman claims his wife has transferred his cryptocurrency to 71 other blockchain addresses, possibly with the assistance of her sister, Lai Yung Li.
When he discovered his bitcoin had been moved in August 2023, he confronted his wife, the court was told, which resulted in him being arrested and pleading guilty to actual bodily harm and two offences of common assault.
Ping reported the alleged theft of the bitcoin to police and his wife was arrested in December 2023. Police searched the family home and seized a number of watches, ten cold wallets and five recovery seeds. The police have since confirmed they will take no further action, pending new evidence, the court was told.
Ping’s wife has filed an affidavit, saying that she was “unaware of any information required to be provided in response” to questions about the transfer of her husband’s cryptocurrency.
Mr Justice Cotter said Ping had “demonstrated a very high probability of success” in the case against his wife. “The evidence is that he was warned of what [his wife] was seeking to do, the transcripts are damning and when the [wife’s] property was searched the necessary equipment to exfiltrate the bitcoin was found,” the judge said. “She has had numerous opportunities to give her side of the story but has declined to do so.”
Ping is seeking the return of the bitcoin or the equivalent value and a worldwide freezing order over the crypto assets of his wife and sister-in-law.
Cotter ruled: “An early trial is necessary given the security threats to, and volatility of value of, the bitcoin.”