Launderer Seng Hok Ling faces 8-year default sentence if £5.6m POCA order is not paid within three months
A professional money launderer linked to the UK’s largest-ever cryptocurrency seizure has been handed a £5.6 million Confiscation Order, in a case that serves as a stark validation of the legal sector’s stringent Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations.
Seng Hok Ling, 47, appeared at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday, 22 January 2026, where the order was made under the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA). Ling, who is currently serving a four-year and 11-month sentence for possessing criminal property, was identified as a key “fixer” for Zhimin Qian, the mastermind behind a £600 million investment fraud in China.
The Compliance Firewall
The defining aspect of this case is not merely the size of the seizure, but the mechanism of the failure. The court heard that Qian and her associates had attempted to convert their illicit Bitcoin holdings into high-value London real estate, targeting properties valued at £4.5 million, £12.5 million, and £23.5 million.
Those transactions never completed. Prosecutors told the court that the offenders were “hampered by difficulties transferring sufficient Bitcoin into cash and by ‘know your customer’ questions asked under anti-money laundering regulations”.
This breakdown at the integration stage underscores the effectiveness of existing AML controls. When solicitors and estate agents applied standard Source of Funds (SoF) and Source of Wealth (SoW) checks, the laundering operation stalled. As a result, the offenders were forced into higher-risk, lower-volume cash conversion methods, significantly increasing their exposure to law enforcement and contributing to their eventual detection.
POCA Application and Default Sentence
The Confiscation Order, obtained by the CPS Proceeds of Crime Division, assessed Ling’s benefit from criminal conduct at £5,603,305.81. The court accepted that his available assets matched that figure in full.
Those assets primarily consist of cryptocurrencies seized by the Metropolitan Police from devices recovered at the time of Ling’s arrest and subsequently realised. The court granted Ling three months to satisfy the order. Importantly, a default sentence of eight years’ imprisonment was imposed should he fail to pay to run consecutively to his existing custodial term.
The Laundering Mechanism
The case offers a clear typology of modern crypto-laundering techniques. Between February and April 2024, Qian transferred a total of 83.7 Bitcoin to wallets controlled by Ling. His role was to layer and attempt to integrate the proceeds:
Placement: Receipt of Bitcoin from the principal fraud offender.
Layering: Conversion of Bitcoin into Tether (USDT) to stabilise value and obscure tracing.
Integration: Transfers to overseas accounts, including in the United Arab Emirates, or conversion into physical cash for use within the UK.
Ling also provided logistical assistance, including arranging rental accommodation and attempting to obtain false identification documents to help Qian evade detection.
“Crime Will Not Pay”
Adrian Foster, Chief Crown Prosecutor for the CPS Proceeds of Crime Division, said Ling had participated in a sophisticated laundering operation involving many millions of pounds. He confirmed that the Confiscation Order ensures Ling cannot profit from his offending and warned that failure to pay would result in a substantial additional prison term.
The CPS stated that more than £478 million has been recovered through Confiscation Orders over the past five years, with £95 million returned directly to victims.
For practitioners, the proceedings against Ling and Qian serve as a clear precedent. They demonstrate that while cryptoassets add complexity, robust AML controls applied by legal and property professionals remain one of the most effective barriers to large-scale financial crime.
Security Minister Dan Jarvis said: “This order sends a clear message: we won’t allow crime to pay.
“Those who launder money through cryptocurrency will be identified, prosecuted and face time behind bars if they don’t pay up.
“We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to recover criminal funds and bring offenders to justice.”