UK police holding $2.6 billion in bitcoin in money laundering trial

<p>The FT reports from a trial in London where Jian Wen, 42, is accused of laundering bitcoin on behalf of her former employer, who is a fugitive from Beijing authorities.</p><p>The report says that in 2018, UK police seized four separate devices containing more than 61,000 bitcoin in a safety deposit box. At the time, that was worth $1.8 billion but at today's prices it would be worth more than $2.6 billion.</p><p>That's a not-insignificant sum. For context, the largest bitcoin ETF so far holds (IBIT) holds $2.67 billion.</p><p>The trial traces back to Zhimin Qian, who allegedly stole roughly $6 billion from more than 128,000 investors, mostly in China. She
then fled to the UK and remains at large.</p><p>Police say Wen had copies of the keys to access the bitcoin.</p><p>Bitcoin is down slightly today after some decent gains over the past week. Presumably this bitcoin will be liquidated (assuming a conviction) and the cash eventually returned to investors who might end up coming out ok.</p>

This article was written by Adam Button at www.forexlive.com.