UK Judge Says Chinese Law Applies to Claims Over £4B Bitcoin Fraud

Investors must establish their ownership rights under Chinese laws before they can claim the seized Bitcoin through the UK court process. A UK High Court judge has ruled that Chinese law, not English law, must govern the claims of victims to more than 61,000 BTC recovered from a multibillion-pound fraud. But while the decision settles an important preliminary legal question, it does not determine whether the victims can establish ownership of the cryptocurrency or how much, if anything, they may recover. How Qian’s Fraud Led to the High Court Dispute This case arises from investment scams arranged by Zhimin Qian in China from 2014 until July 2017. They involved about 10 schemes via the company known as “Tianjin Lantian Gerui Electronic Technology” and others, which included digital currencies, elderly care services, and consumer products. The company lacked authorization to offer financial products and Qian confessed that there was a need for such an authorization under Chinese law. According to an audit, there were at least 128,409 investment contracts related to the scams; however, as per the court, the number of contracts is not equal to the number of people who were victims of ...