UK High Court Lets 16,000 Victims Appeal Ruling on 61,000 Seized Bitcoin in Qian Zhimin Case
Published October 21, 2026, 3:20 PM PKT. Based on PANews reporting on October 21, 2026 that cited Caixin (primary source), with additional reporting from KuCoin News flashes citing BlockBeats, Huoxing Finance, ME News and Foresight News, and background from CryptoDaily and CryptoPulseDaily (secondary sources).
The UK High Court has granted about 16,000 Chinese fraud victims permission to appeal its October 12, 2026 ruling that Chinese law governs property claims over more than 61,000 Bitcoin seized in the Qian Zhimin money laundering case, according to PANews reporting on October 21 that cited Caixin. The decision gives the victims a route to challenge a ruling that, left standing, would test their claims under Chinese law rather than English property law, and it keeps the fight over a stash worth about 3.8 billion pounds firmly open.
The appeal permission
Reports of the new hearing differ slightly on its date but agree on its outcome. PANews said on October 21 that the High Court had held another hearing just four days after the October 12 ruling, which points to October 16, and that the judge granted the victims permission to appeal the choice of law ruling. A KuCoin News flash citing ME News likewise dated the hearing to October 16 and said the judge approved the victims' appeal of the legal applicability ruling issued on October 12.
Permission to appeal is not a reversal. It means an appellate court will hear the victims' challenge to the choice of law decision, while the October 12 ruling remains in place unless and until it is overturned. Lawyers for all parties at the follow-up hearing also discussed litigation costs arising from the earlier choice of law dispute, whether the approximately 16,000 individual applicants will continue their recovery claims, and how applicants can withdraw, according to PANews and the KuCoin News flashes.
The October 12 ruling under challenge
The ruling under appeal was handed down by Mr Justice Mark Turner on October 12 in Director of Public Prosecutions v Qian and others, according to CryptoDaily and CryptoPulseDaily. Turner held that Chinese law, not English law, governs the substantive property rights claims over the Bitcoin, because the alleged fraud, the payments investors made and the conversion of money into Bitcoin were all centred in China. London's Metropolitan Police seized more than 61,000 Bitcoin in the case, and the Crown Prosecution Service has linked the haul to an alleged Chinese investment fraud that ran from 2014 to 2017.
The distinction matters because of how victims applied to the court. Thousands of victims applied under section 281 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, which lets a person ask the court to declare that property subject to recovery belongs to them. Under the October 12 ruling, applicants must establish an ownership interest under Chinese legal principles, and a personal claim against the fraudster for repayment of money lost is not enough on its own, according to Duan and Duan UK LLP's account of the decision cited in MABOnChain's earlier coverage. The ruling did not decide who ultimately owns the Bitcoin or how it will be distributed, and a further hearing was expected to consider expert evidence on Chinese law unless the decision was overturned on appeal.
The 3.8 billion pound stash
The seized Bitcoin is worth about 3.8 billion pounds, according to Foresight News reporting carried by KuCoin News, which also noted that the court has not yet determined final ownership. At Bitcoin prices near $82,954 reported by Cointelegraph on October 21, the stash is worth roughly $5 billion, a figure consistent with earlier reporting on the case. The victims' hope in appealing is to revive the English law tracing argument that would let them assert rights over the coins themselves, rather than only a claim for the money they originally paid, an argument the October 12 ruling pushed into Chinese law.
Qian Zhimin, also known as Yadi Zhang, ran Ponzi schemes through Tianjin Lantian Gerui Electronic Technology and a second purported entity between 2014 and 2017, collecting roughly 40.2 billion renminbi through at least 128,409 investment contracts before converting part of the proceeds into Bitcoin and moving to London, according to CryptoPulseDaily. She fled China for Myanmar in July 2017, and police seized devices used to access the coins during searches in London in October and November 2018. She pleaded guilty to money laundering and was sentenced to 11 years and eight months in prison in November 2025.
A separate 5.6 million pound recovery
Separately, a Malaysian man linked to the case, Hok Seng Ling, 48, has paid about 5.6 million pounds to the UK government, according to ME News reporting carried by KuCoin News on October 21. The Crown Prosecution Service, responding to a freedom of information request, disclosed that it has fully recovered 5,603,305 pounds in assets ordered for confiscation by the court, plus 1,990 pounds in interest, most of which consisted of cryptocurrencies seized at the time of his arrest. Hok Seng Ling, who prosecutors said acted as Qian's butler by arranging accommodation and assisting personnel to facilitate money laundering and evade police investigation, previously pleaded guilty to money laundering and was sentenced to four years and 11 months in prison.
That recovery is small beside the 61,000 Bitcoin at the centre of the main dispute, but it shows the confiscation machinery around the case is still moving while the ownership question heads to appeal. The next decisive step is the appeal itself: if the victims lose, their claims proceed under Chinese law, and if they win, the English law arguments return to the table.
This article is news reporting and is not investment advice.
Sources
- PANews, Qian Zhimin's 60,000 Bitcoin Case Takes Another Turn: UK High Court Grants Chinese Victims Permission to Appeal (October 21, 2026), citing Caixin, primary source
- KuCoin News, The UK High Court allows Chinese victims in the Qian Zhimin case to appeal the legal ruling (October 21, 2026), citing ME News and Foresight News, secondary source
- KuCoin News, The UK High Court allows Chinese victims to appeal Bitcoin property rights in the Qian Zhimin case (October 21, 2026), citing BlockBeats and Caixin, secondary source
- CryptoDaily, UK Court Applies Chinese Law to 61,000 Bitcoin Claims (October 16, 2026), secondary source
- CryptoPulseDaily, UK High Court Rules Chinese Law Governs Claims to 61,000 Seized Bitcoin (October 2026), secondary source
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