China moves to confiscate more than 61,800 bitcoin tied to a $5.7 billion fraud, as the coins sit in UK custody

Chinese prosecutors are trying to claim one of the largest bitcoin hoards ever seized. Tianjin's Second Intermediate People's Court accepted their request on October 13 to confiscate more than 61,800 bitcoin and other assets as illegal gains tied to an alleged $5.7 billion fraud, CoinDesk reported.

Prosecutors say Qian Zhimin's company, Tianjin Lantian Gree Electronic Technology, sold unlicensed wealth-management products from 2014 to 2017 that promised "guaranteed principal and high returns," raising more than 40.378 billion yuan from over 102,000 investors, who lost nearly 20 billion yuan. They allege the money went into bitcoin, property, cars and jewelry rather than real businesses.

Qian allegedly fled China in 2017 and settled in the UK, where British authorities seized the bitcoin. A UK High Court has ruled that Chinese law, not English law, governs alleged victims' claims to the coins held in Britain, and further hearings are expected, per CoinDesk.

What happens next: the Chinese court has opened a six-month period for victims and other interested parties to join the case.