UK court jails woman for laundering $10 million worth of bitcoin tied to alleged $5.6 billion fraud: report

The Southwark Crown Court in London sentenced a woman to jail for money laundering bitcoin tied to a billion-dollar investment fraud, Bloomberg reports .

Jian Wen, 42, with UK and Chinese citizenship, was sentenced to six years and eight months for money laundering 150 BTC, worth around $10.4 million at current prices. The bitcoin was part of a wider investment fraud operation, in which authorities seized 61,000 BTC valued at around $4.22 billion, related to a broader purported $5.6 billion scheme.

Wen claims to have laundered the funds on behalf of a Chinese woman between 2017 and 2022, maintaining that the woman was the "mastermind" behind the operation. Wen further states that she didn't know the true origin of the funds, and the court did not accuse her of participating in the broader fraud, Bloomberg adds. Wen had been working as a food delivery worker before taking part.

Bitcoin traded at $69,077.30 as of 2:25 p.m. ET (18:25 UTC) on May 24, according to The Block's pricing data. The token experienced a 3.04% increase of $2,035 in the past 24 hours.