Seng Hok Ling, 47, pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering and was sentenced to four years and 11 months at Southwark Crown Court last November.

On 22 January, a confiscation order was made against Ling for £5.6m. If he does not pay this back within three months his prison sentence will be extended for a further eight years.

Ling was jailed alongside gang leader and Chinese national Zhimin Qian who was given 11 years and eight months for orchestrating the fraud.

At the trial last November, the court heard how Ling was discovered to have been working for Qian since August 2020, and had laundered £2.8m worth of crypto, mostly using it to buy more crypto and attempting to buy properties in Dubia.

Ling also rented out Airbnb’s for Qian to stay in while she was wanted by police.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said that between 2014 and 2017, Qian orchestrated a large-scale fraud in China by defrauding over 128,000 investors out of £5.5bn in a crypto Ponzi scheme.

Qian then escaped China to the UK in late 2017 where she attempted to launder the stolen amount.

When the police raided one of these addresses in York, they found Qian hiding away with four illegal workers. These people were hired by Ling as security guards and housekeepers to look after his boss so she could avoid detection.

At sentencing in November 2025, Judge Sally-Ann Hales KC said: ‘I have no doubt that you were well rewarded for your loyalty and that you considered it to be in your own interests to assist Qian in evading capture. You were her trusted aide from at least August 2020 until both of you were arrested.’

Adrian Foster, chief crown prosecutor at the CPS said: ‘The CPS and the Metropolitan Police have successfully brought Senk 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 £5m, which he must pay within three months or risk being returned to prison for an additional sentence of eight years.’

Pictured: Seng Hok Ling from Met Police

Bitcoin fraudster jailed in £5.5bn fraud | 11 Nov 2025

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