The Chinese national must pay back £5,603,305.81 – or face extra jail time
Seng Hok Ling could face extra jail time if he does not pay back more than £5m(Image: CPS)
A man described as a “professional money launderer” who assisted with the laundering of millions linked to high value investment fraud in China has been ordered to pay back more than £5.6 million – or face extra jail time.
Seng Hok Ling, of Morningside Walk, Matlock, was sentenced to four years and 11 months in jail on November 11 at Southwark Crown Court after pleading guilty to one count of a money laundering related offence.
The main defendant in this criminal conspiracy, Zhimin Qian (aka Yadi Zhang), 47, a Chinese national, was sentenced to 11 years and eight months after pleading guilty to two offences of money laundering at Southwark Crown Court, on the same day as Ling.
The court heard how Qian transferred a total of 67.7 Bitcoin to wallets controlled by Ling in February 2024, and then a further 16 Bitcoin were transferred to him in April 2024.
After receiving the cryptocurrency, he then converted these into other cryptocurrencies, including Tether, the price for which is linked to the price of the US Dollar.
Some of these funds were then transferred abroad and paid into bank accounts in the United Arab Emirates.
Some of the cryptocurrencies held by Ling were also sent to third parties and converted into cash, which was then withdrawn in the UK.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) told how 47-year-old Ling provided valuable criminal services to Qian, such as arranging employees to work for her in the UK at a time when she was seeking to evade police capture, seeking to obtain false identification documents for her, and arranging the rental of properties for her within the UK.
The CPS and Metropolitan Police’s seizure of more than 60,000 Bitcoin is the largest ever in the UK.
Prosecutors told the court previously that the sheer scale of the seized Bitcoin, the lack of any legitimate evidence for how it was acquired, and its connection to a massive investment fraud in China, all indicated that it was criminal property.
Between 2014 and 2017, Qian was responsible for a massive investment fraud in China involving over 128,000 victims, some of whom invested their life savings and pensions.
Zhimin Qian, who went by the name of Yadi Zhang, defrauded over 100,000 victims before fleeing to the UK.(Image: Metropolitan Police)
The investment fraud led to losses of approximately £600 million. She then went on to convert around £20.2 million of the illegally obtained money into Bitcoin.
Qian then fled China and came to the UK where she met Jian Wen (convicted and imprisoned for money laundering separately) and began to try to purchase high-value property and jewellery.
They made efforts to purchase properties in London, valued at £4.5 million, £23.5 million, and £12.5 million, but were hampered by difficulties transferring sufficient Bitcoin into cash and by “know your customer” questions asked under anti-money laundering regulations.
Qian fled and looked for someone else to help her launder the cryptocurrency.
After Wen was arrested and jailed, Qian replaced her services with those provided by Seng Hok Ling, a Malaysian national who transferred approximately £2.5 million on her behalf.
The CPS, along with the Metropolitan Police Service, have now secured a Confiscation Order against Matlock man Ling following his money laundering conviction.
The Judge determined that he benefitted in the sum of £5,603,305.81 from his criminal conduct and then made a Confiscation Order in the sum of his available assets, which were valued at £5,603,305.81.
The Judge also ordered that if he fails to pay his Confiscation Order within three months, he could serve an additional eight years in prison.
The majority of the assets in this case comprise the cryptocurrencies seized by the Metropolitan Police Service from devices seized from Ling at the time of his arrest.
Adrian Foster, chief crown prosecutor of the CPS’s proceeds of crime division said: “The CPS and the Metropolitan Police have successfully brought Seng Hok Ling to justice.
“Ling took part in a sophisticated money laundering operation which laundered many millions of pounds from the proceeds of crime.
“We have today secured a Confiscation Order against him of over £5 million, which he must pay within three months or risk being returned to prison for an additional sentence of eight years.
“In the last five years, over £478 million has been recovered from CPS obtained Confiscation Orders, ensuring that thousands of convicted criminals cannot profit from their offending.
“Over £95 million of that amount has been returned to victims of crime, by way of compensation.”