A new development has been made in the case of illegal absorption of public deposits by Tianjin Blue Sky Group Electronics Technology Limited (shortly known as Blue Sky Group), which is involved in more than 40 billion yuan.
On October 13, 2026, the Second Intermediate people‘s court of Tianjin issued a notice stating that the Second Branch of the Tianjin People’s Prosecution Council confiscated the illegal income application of the criminal suspect Qian Zhimin. The court concluded that there was evidence to prove that the criminal suspect Qian Zhimin committed a fund-raising fraud crime, mainly in the Hedong District of the city. The court has jurisdiction. According to section 299 of the Criminal Procedure of the People’s Republic of China, the case was filed and received on September 28, 2026.
On March 31, 2014, Qian Zhimin registered to establish Blue Sky Group in Tianjin. Blue Sky Group has sales operations for national financial management products in seven major regions: Jingjin Ji, Dongbei, Hua Dong, Hua Nan, Hua Zhong, Northwest, and Southwest. From April 2014 to August 2017, Blue Sky Group launched ten financial management products under the slogan of environmentally friendly development, intelligent retirement, and bitcoin mining. They used zero risk and high interest rates as bait, and through product promotional events, development brokers, and classes and training, they used 1 to 3 times investment returns as bait to illegally absorb public deposits.
In July 2017, the company stopped returning profits under the pretext of upgrading its financial system, and then issued a notice saying that it had suspended its business due to financial reorganization. In late July, Blue Sky Group completely “stormed.” On July 27, 2017, Tianjin police seized Blue Sky Group. But at that time, Blue Sky Group‘s actual controller, Qian Zhimin, had already fled abroad using a fake passport.
The masked person on the right is Qian Zhimin. Interviewed person provided. Photo source: China Newsweek.
Announcement Introduction: Suspected criminal Qian Zhimin, nicknamed “Hua Hua”, female, Han, born on September 4, 1978 in Ru Gao County, Jiangsu Province (now Ru Gao City), major in culture. In July 2017, Qian Zhimin fled overseas. Due to this case, his arrest was approved on January 8, 2018 by the People‘s Prosecutor‘s Office in He Dong District, Tianjin City. Interpol issued a red notice on February 12, 2018. His arrest was approved on March 10, 2026 by the People’s Prosecutor’s Office in He Dong District, Tianjin City, on suspicion of fundraising fraud. His arrest was approved on August 28, 2026, by the People’s Prosecutor’s Office in Ha Dong District, Tianjin City, on suspicion of crossing the border.
The application for confiscation of illegal income by the Second Branch of the People‘s Prosecution Council of Tianjin City states: Blue Sky Group was established on March 31, 2014, and was actually controlled by the criminal suspect Qian Zhimin. From April 2014 to August 2017, Qian Zhimin recruited others to sell fake financial management products in various places across the country under the company‘s name without the legal permission of the state financial management department, publicly advertising to society that the investment projects were capital-saving, interest-returning, and profitable, and signed investment agreements for financial management products with an unspecified public to attract funds, totaling more than Rmb40.378 billion.
Qian Zhimin used the acquired funds to pay interest on financial capital due, operate fake investment projects, acquire large amounts of bitcoin, and purchase property, cars, jewelry, and other assets. The vast majority of the acquired funds were not used for production and operations, causing more than 102,000 fundraising participants to suffer investment losses, totaling more than 19.977 billion yuan.
After Chinese police investigated Blue Sky Group, Qian Zhimin fled China in July 2017 and arrived in the UK in September 2017 with a passport in the name of Yadi Zhang. In the UK, she hired a Chinese woman named Wen Jian to help with money laundering.
According to previous reports, in September 2018, Qian Zhimin attempted to buy a super mansion worth £23.5 million (about RMB 200 million) directly with Bitcoin. In the UK, such a huge property transaction must pass through strict “anti-money laundering” (AML) scrutiny. This transaction was not completely successful, and instead alerted the British police.
Wen Jian was arrested in May 2021, tried in 2023, and subsequently convicted of money laundering. Qian Zhimin escaped for a while, and in late April 2024, British media reported that Qian Zhimin was caught in the UK and returned to custody pending trial.
Police raid on Qian Zhimin‘s mansion
Qian Zhimin‘s illegal income was seized by the UK judiciary, specifically including more than 61,800 bitcoins (currently worth about RMB 34.5 billion), more than 72,700 bitcoins in cash, more than 3,605,900 Reebok coins, 84,366.6 pounds sterling in cash, as well as other virtual currencies, cash, and jewelry.
In June 2019, the Hedong Branch of Tianjin Municipal Public Security Bureau issued a notice. Public security agencies had arrested 50 criminal suspects, including Ren Jiangtao of Blue Sky Group, of whom 28 had been transferred for investigation and indictment.
The Second Division of the People‘s Prosecution Council of Tianjin City believes that the criminal suspect, Qian Zhimin, is suspected of fundraising fraud and has been wanted for a year after fleeing. There is evidence that his assets, including more than 61,800 bitcoins, which were seized in the United Kingdom, belong to illegal income and interest. He should be prosecuted for his illegal income and the property and interest he converted and converted. Apart from legally returning the damaged fundraising participants, they should be confiscated.
Qian Zhimin Hiding in a Luxury Mansion in London
The Blue Sky Grey case is also the largest bitcoin money laundering case in British judicial history. In November 2025, Qian Zhimin was sentenced to 11 years and 8 months in prison in the UK.
The Interface News reported that for many years, the victims of the Blue Sky Group case have been actively seeking compensation, but face multiple dilemmas such as cross-border debt pursuit, virtual currency ownership, and value conversion. They have jointly commissioned multiple teams of lawyers from China and Britain to formally submit applications to the United Kingdom, demanding that these frozen assets be returned directly to the Chinese victims, rather than incorporated into the British Treasury.
Information released by the Archives nationales, which is part of the UK‘s Ministry of Justice, shows that the UK High Court has ruled on October 12, local time, that the property claims made by the affected groups regarding the appreciation of Bitcoin are subject to Chinese law, not British. The judge believes that these investors are mainly Chinese, and that activities such as fundraising, money transfers and their conversion to Bitcoin all took place in China, so Chinese law will apply as local law for the relevant objects. In addition, attempts by investors to file claims under property and asset tracking requirements under British law were also rejected.
On the other hand, the UK court plans to hold a new round of trial in the middle of this month. For victims of Blue Sky Group who have not previously submitted a compensation application to the UK, they can entrust law firms to submit a compensation supplementary application to the UK court by October 14. Whether it is valid still requires further review.