Zhimin Qian, the Chinese national behind a multibillion pound Bitcoin fraud has been jailed for 11 years and eight months for charges of possessing and transferring criminal property.

One of her accomplices, Seng Hok Ling, also 47, from Malaysia was sentenced to four years and 11 months in prison for one count of transferring criminal property.

Upon sentencing the pair, Judge Sally-Ann Hales KC said: ‘These offences are so severe that only lengthy immediate custodial sentences will suffice.’

First sentencing the tearful ringleader, Qian, judge Hales KC said: ‘It cannot be said that you are a woman of good character.’

Continuing she said: ‘You were the architect of this offending from its inception to its conclusion. The scale of your money laundering is unprecedented. Your motive was one of pure greed.’

W