A former Chinese takeaway worker found guilty of money laundering after police seized more than £3bn worth of Bitcoin has been jailed for more than six years.
Jian Wen, 42, came to the attention of police when she tried to buy some of London’s most expensive properties, including a £23.5m seven-bedroom Hampstead mansion with a swimming pool and a nearby £12.5m home with a cinema and gym.
The investigation led to the UK’s biggest-ever cryptocurrency seizure when more than 61,000 Bitcoin were discovered in digital wallets.
The cryptocurrency was worth £1.4bn at the time but its value has now risen to more than £3bn, while 23,308 Bitcoin, now worth more than £1bn, linked to the probe remains in circulation.
The Bitcoin allegedly came from a £5bn investment scam carried out in China between 2014 and 2017.
Wen was not involved in the fraud but was said to have acted as a “front person” to help disguise the source of the money, some of which had been used to buy cryptocurrency and smuggled out of China on laptops.
Image: Wen rented a £17,000-a-month house in Hampstead. Pic: CPS
She was found guilty of one count of money laundering, relating to 150 Bitcoin, now worth nearly £8m, between October 2017 and January 2022 last month following a retrial at Southwark Crown Court.
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Wen was jailed for six years and eight months today by Judge Sally-Ann Hales KC, who told her: “I am in no doubt you came to enjoy the better things in life.
“The evidence showed you and, to some extent, members of your family were generously rewarded for your service.”
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The court heard Wen, who has been in custody as a Category A prisoner since 3 March 2022, plans to appeal the conviction.
Mark Harries KC, defending, said she “was a victim long before she became a criminal” and “was undoubtedly duped and used” by the alleged mastermind of the operation.
Mr Harries said she was “plucked from the most humble of backgrounds”, working and living in “shabby Chinese restaurants” into a “lifestyle of luxury” funded by the Bitcoin.
Wen lived in a £5m six-bedroom house rented for £17,000 a month near Hampstead Heath and travelled the world, spending tens of thousands of pounds on designer clothes and shoes in Harrods.
She drove a £25,000 E-Class Mercedes and sent her son to the £6,000-a-term Heathside preparatory school, the court heard.
Image: Wen visits the Lindt chocolate factory in Switzerland. Pic: Met Police
Image: Wen tried to buy a Hampstead property. Pic: Met Police
She bought two apartments in Dubai for more than £500,000 and looked into buying a £10m 18th century Tuscan villa with a sea view.
But efforts to buy multimillion-pound properties in London triggered anti-money laundering checks and none of the purchases went ahead because the source of the Bitcoin could not be explained.
Wen, who had declared an income of just £5,979 in the 2016/17 financial year, could not explain the source of the funds and police first raided her home on 31 October 2018.
She accepted she was involved in an arrangement dealing with some of the cryptocurrency but said she did not know or suspect it was from the proceeds of crime.
The court heard that once the Bitcoin had been converted into fiat currency loaded on to black prepaid cards which could be used anywhere in the world.
Wen, who has a diploma in law and a business degree, was acquitted of a string of other money laundering charges and Mr Harries said she had wanted to make her and her son’s lives better, initially by legitimate means.
She was the “conduit”, with “her simple task the pressing of buttons for transactions of Bitcoin” and she had a “limited awareness of the extent of the criminal activity to which she had leant herself,” he said.
But prosecutor Gillian Jones KC said Wen was motivated by “greed” and her own “financial gain” not subjected to “coercion, intimidation or exploitation”.
Prince William has posted a picture of him and his father, King Charles, playing football to mark Father’s Day.
In the photograph, the young prince smiles as he and the future monarch stand in a garden.
The royal youngster is pictured wearing dungarees and a striped shirt, while Charles looks relaxed in a double-breasted suit jacket.
The picture of the two future kings was taken on 12 June, 1984 in the gardens of Kensington Palace.
Later that same year William would gain a younger brother, with the Duke of Sussex born in September.
As well as marking Father’s Day, the football-themed image is perhaps a nod to England’s opening match in the Euros, which takes place on Sunday night.
Image: Modern day: Prince William and King Charles on the palace balcony yesterday. Pic: PA
Gareth Southgate has said he “expects everybody to enjoy the football” when asked about the heightened security risk of England’s opening Euros match against Serbia.
The England manager was responding to a question at a pre-match news conference on Saturday about the decision to ramp up security measures for today’s game in Gelsenkirchen.
Asked for his message to supporters, he said: “I expect everybody to enjoy the football.
“I’ve been fortunate to be involved in a lot of tournaments, and travel to tournaments I’ve not been directly involved in.
“They’re great carnivals of football – an opportunity to see a different part of the world and meet people from other parts of the world, have a brilliant time, so I’m sure everybody is coming to do that.”
He added: “I hope the whole of Europe can come together for the brilliant game that we’re involved in and support their team.”
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2:40
England-Serbia match ‘high risk’
Officials have designated England’s opening fixture as a “high-risk” event, with fans served lower-alcohol beer in the stadium and banned from drinking in the stands.
More than 300,000 British fans are travelling to Germanyfor Euro 2024, making it their highest attendance since Euro 2016 in France.
Image: England fans in Gelsenkirchen. Pic: PA
Policing the first game has been made more challenging by UEFAasking for the barriers to be removed inside the stadium, with both sides being seated closer together, and two-thirds of tickets going to mixed areas.
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Southgate ‘relaxed’ that this is likely his final Euros
Entering his fourth tournament as England manager, Gareth Southgate is looking to the future.
There is 20-year-old Jude Bellingham being appointed to the leadership group.
A squad with only half its players retained from the 2022 World Cup.
And the manager himself is looking at a time when the Three Lions dugout is filled by someone else.
“I hate to put pressure on all the coaches,” the 53-year-old said. “But it could be the last tournament for all of them.”
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German police Chief Inspector Christof Burghardt told Sky News previously: “I think it’s a very high-risk game because of the history, because of the hooligans both sides have.
“Serbia has many hooligans. The English guys, with alcohol, they are sometimes very aggressive. So it’s a great job to do this, to prepare, so that hopefully nothing will happen.”
Image: Gareth Southgate and Harry Kane. Pic: Reuters
Footballing deaths a ‘great shock’
At the joint news conference with captain Harry Kane on Saturday, Southgate was also asked about the deaths announced today of two footballing figures – former Arsenal and Everton star Kevin Campell and Millwall and Montenegro goalkeeper Matija Sarkic.
Southgate said “both pieces of news were received with shock and great sadness”, acknowledging that the England players who have played with Sarkic are “feeling that even more”.
Image: Matija Sarkic. Pic: PA
He recalled playing with Campbell, who died aged 54, at Arsenal, describing him as a “hugely popular man”.
“Kevin was the same age as me… his son has been in our junior pathway as well. Our thoughts are very much with his family at this time,” he said.
Image: Kevin Campbell. Pic: PA
Both men said they are expecting Sunday’s game to be a challenge.
Kane told reporters: “We’re expecting a really tough game.”
Southgate added: “There are a lot of good teams in this tournament and we have to be exceptional to progress, firstly through the group, and then to have the opportunity to go further.”
Entering his fourth tournament as England manager, Gareth Southgate is looking to the future.
There is 20-year-old Jude Bellingham being appointed to the leadership group.
A squad with only half its players retained from the 2022 World Cup.
And the manager himself is looking at a time when the Three Lions dugout is filled by someone else.
“I hate to put pressure on all the coaches,” the 53 year old said. “But it could be the last tournament for all of them.
“So this is the world we’re in. I’m probably more relaxed about it because I’ve been to three. I know exactly what it involves, I know the events you have to deal with.”
Events that begin on Sunday night in Gelsenkirchen with their Euro 2024 group opener against Serbia.
It is three years since they went all the way in the competition – reaching the final at Wembley only to lose in the shootout to Italy.
Since then there has been Qatar, where England couldn’t make it to the last-four as they did at the 2018 World Cup – losing the quarter-final to France.
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It could be France posing the greatest threat again, although hosts Germany were formidable in the 5-1 humbling of Scotland in the Euros curtain-raiser on Friday night.
Image: Harry Kane and Gareth Southgate (right) at a pre-match news conference in Gelsenkirchen. Pic: PA
What chance is there of a first trophy for England’s men since 1966?
“We’ve earned the right to be, I guess, classed as one of the favourites,” captain Harry Kane said.
“Ultimately, we’re here to win it. And there will be nothing better for us and the nation itself if we do that.”
It would be a first career trophy for Kane whose move to Germany in the last year, to play for Bayern Munich, has unexpectedly not produced silverware for the former Tottenham striker.
“I think winning a major tournament with England would be one of the pinnacles of anyone’s career so that is the aim,” he said.
“For me personally, the trophies haven’t quite happened yet but it just makes me more determined and hungry to go out there and do that.”
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1:18
Kane and Southgate talk ahead of first match
And no player scored more goals in Europe last season than Kane – netting 44 times in all competitions.There was an impressive debut season with an England teammate – Bellingham scoring 23 goals for Real Madrid when not even a centre forward and only just out of his teens.
Now the prolific duo are linking up again for their country.
Kane said: “I think we complement each other really well. Whether one of us is dropping deep, the other one running in behind and vice versa.
“So an amazing player to play with. He likes to get in the box, he likes to affect games and score goals, which is always important for an attacking midfielder.
“So I think the more we train with each other, the more we play with each other, hopefully that relationship can get even stronger. But it’s so strong already.”
Image: At England’s training session this week. Pic: Reuters
Southgate has also brought Bellingham into the leadership group with Kane, midfielder Declan Rice and defender Kyle Walker.
“There’s a different dynamic to this group,” Southgate said. “There’s a lot of younger players, and I want to make sure that the voices of the younger players, that I’m really in touch with that as well.
“So I don’t want to leave here with any stone unturned. I don’t want to have missed anything.
“And, it’s always important to know what the players are thinking. They have good views. They have good experiences.
“And also, there will be some decisions that I will take without talking to any of them.”