ELEVEN members of a notorious organised crime family have been sentenced to death over international scam centres.
A Chinese court handed down the brutal sentence to multiple members of the Ming family, while other members were sentenced to suspended death sentences, life imprisonments, and fixed-term sentences.
The fixed term sentences ranged from five to 24 years.
Ming Guoping, Ming Zhenzhen, Zhou Weichang, Wu Hongming, Wu Senlong and Fu Yubin were six of the 11 defendants sentenced to die.
Other punishments included various fines, confiscation of property and deportation, a Chinese court heard.
A total of 39 Ming family members fronted court on Monday in Wenzhou, in eastern China.
According to China Central Television (CCTV), the Ming family criminal syndicate had exploited their influence in the Kokang region of Myanmar.
Operating since 2015, the family worked for one of the four clans who ran the Laukkai district, close to China’s border.
The area was turned into a hotspot for gambling, drugs and scam centres.
In 2023, Myanmar’s government cracked down on the illegal activities, arresting many members of the families and handing them over to Chinese authorities.
The region was chosen to exploit the Chinese desire for gambling – an illegal practice in China and many other neighbouring countries.
What started out as casinos evolved into fronts for money laundering, trafficking and dozens of scam centres.
Working with financiers, the family syndicate carried out telecom fraud, illegal casinos, drug trafficking and prostitution, implicating more than $1.4 billion (10 billion yuan) in illicit funds.
Estimates suggest that illegal casinos were generating several billion dollars in profit every year.
The syndicate and its enablers killed or injured people involved who attempted to escape or resist control.
In the process, 10 people died and two were injured.
The root location for what the UN later called the “scamdemic”, the centres saw more than 100,000 foreign nationals – including many Chinese people – being lured in and effectively imprisoned.
Captured people were forced to work long hours, running sophisticated online fraud operations targeting victims from all over the globe.
Once the most powerful family in Myanmar’s Shan State, the Ming family ran scam centres, some holding more than 10,000 workers.
The most notorious compound was known as Crouching Tiger Villa, where workers were routinely beaten and tortured.
The Ming family reign came to an end two years ago when insurgent groups formed an alliance and attacked the Myanmar military in the region.
The groups took control of the area forcing out local authorities, pulling the rug out from beneath the Ming family operation.
Ming Quechang – the family patriarch – reportedly killed himself and other family members were handed over to the Chinese authorities.
Some have since confessed to their involvement in the criminal activity.
Thousands of those working in scam centres were also handed over to Chinese police.
Earlier this year, pressure from Beijing forced Thailand to take action against scam centres on the Myanmar border.
The court found their conduct had constituted 14 crimes, including fraud, intentional homicide and intentional injury.
More than 160 people, including local legislators, political advisers, Ming family members and members of the public attended the trial.
The centres are still prevalent in Myanmar, however, have evolved cross-border into Cambodia.
Everton are LEADING against West Ham in the Premier League under the Monday night lights.
Michael Keane headed the Toffees ahead from a good James Garner cross, following some sloppy Hammers defending.
former Wolves, Tottenham and Nottingham Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo takes charge of his first game since replacing Graham Potter just two days ago.
The Hammers trip to Everton sees them face their old boss David Moyes at the new Hill Dickinson Stadium, where the Toffees are yet to suffer defeat in three matches.
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WAYNE ROONEY has admitted “it hurts” to see Manchester United the way it is and added he is desperate for his kids to see the club back on top.
Rooney, 39, is the Red Devils‘ all-time leading goalscorer and won everything there was to win as a player for the club, including five Premier League titles.
"I'd go straight in there." @WayneRooney says Man Utd need people in their dressing room who understand what the club is about
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) September 29, 2025pic.twitter.com/3o1Kwfp7hl
However, little more than eight years on from his final United game, standards have plummeted through the floor as an increasingly desperate situation slides into deeper and deeper ignominy.
Rooney even claimed he did not even recognise the club anymore, slamming the players for a perceived lack of character and desire to win.
That fact was once again laid bare as Ruben Amorim‘s side limped to a 3-1 defeat away at Brentford to leave them 14th in the Premier League table.
Speaking on the Wayne Rooney show, the former England international referenced big characters from his own playing days such as Roy Keane and Paul Scholes who would be able to show “what the club means”.
But the most damning assessment came with Rooney’s desperation for his children to see the club win again.
Kai, 15, has played in the club’s youth set-up since 2020, while Klay, 12, is also in the youth ranks at United.
Rooney said: “I never grew up a Man Utd fan, I grew up an Everton fan.
“But I spent that much time with the football club, my family, my two children are now at the football club.
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“I’ve been involved in that club for over 20 years and what we’re seeing hurts.”
Rooney continued: “Only my eldest boy has seen Man Utd win a Premier League title.
“My kids don’t know what Man Utd being successful is. I want them to see that.”
Rooney also said: “The culture of that football club has gone. I see it on a daily basis.
“I see staff losing jobs, people walking out of jobs.
“I’ve got two kids [in the academy] at that football club and I really hope this doesn’t affect what they’re doing.
“What I’m seeing at that football club is not Manchester United.”
United host Sunderland at Old Trafford next Saturday, desperately hoping for a good result and performance to match.
That match will also come exactly one day before the one-year anniversary of when the United fan refusing to cut his hair until they win five in a row started his challenge.
IN
TOTAL – £232.5m
OUT
TOTAL – £40m
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The first National Lottery draw was held on November 19 1994 when seven winners shared a jackpot of £5,874,778.
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Sandra Devine, 36, accidentally won £300k – she intended to buy her usual £100 National Lottery Scratchcard, but came home with a much bigger prize.
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A CRYPTO mastermind who had dreams of being a “Goddess” has been found guilty of stealing £5.5billion in Bitcoin.
Zhimin Qian, also known as Yadi Zhang, fled to the UK in 2017 after ripping off 128,000 investors in China and converting their cash into cryptocurrency.
The cryptocurrency was worth £1.4bn at the time but its value has now risen to more than £5bn.
Qian’s haul is thought to be the largest law enforcement Bitcoin seizure ever worldwide.
Qian was arrested in April last year after spending years on the run.
Police first raided her £5m six-bedroom rented house near Hampstead Heath, in north London, on 31 October 2018.
But it was another two and a half years before investigators discovered more than 61,000 Bitcoin in digital wallets – one of the biggest ever cryptocurrency seizures in the world.
Qian was due to face trial at Southwark Crown Court but has pleaded guilty to charges of possessing criminal property and transferring criminal property on or before 23 April 2024.
Qian admitted charges of possessing and transferring criminal property on the first day of her trial at Southwark Crown Court.
The 47-year-old, wearing glasses, a brown cardigan and an animal print top, was remanded in custody ahead of sentencing, which will take place at a later date.
In a digital diary seized by UK police, Qian recorded her desire to be anointed “Reincarnated Goddess” by the Dalai Lama, reports the Financial Times.
The diary also outlined her plans for the kingdom she would rule in known as “Liberland”, reports the outlet.
She planned to lead a 7 sq km unrecognised and uninhabited micronation located on the Danube between Croatia and Serbia.
Qian’s other plans included a Buddhist temple, infrastructure including an airport and port, and a £5million crown and sceptre.
Now, the fortune is at the centre of an intense battle between the UK government and Chinese investors over who gets to keep it.
The seized assets have reportedly been earmarked by Chancellor Rachel Reeves to help plug the hole in the public finances.
Qian emerged from relative obscurity to run a Chinese company called Tianjin Lantian Gerui Electronic Technology, launched in March 2014.
The firm sold investment products with promised returns of up to 300 per cent.
But in reality, she was simply funnelling her investors’ money into Bitcoin for her own enrichment.
Prosecutor Gillian Jones KC said she would not apply to launch confiscation proceedings because of the ongoing proceedings in the High Court.
Will Lyne, the Metropolitan Police‘s head of economic and cybercrime command, said Qian’s guilty pleas marked the culmination of “years of dedicated investigation“.
He said: “This is one of the largest money laundering cases in UK history and among the highest-value cryptocurrency cases globally.”
Zhang’s solicitor, Roger Sahota of Berkeley Square Solicitors, said: “By pleading guilty today, Ms Zhang hopes to bring some comfort to investors who have waited since 2017 for compensation, and to reassure them that the significant rise in cryptocurrency values means there are more than sufficient funds available to repay their losses.”
MONEY laundering is a serious offence that can land you a long jail sentence.
The total amount of cash laundered each year in the UK goes into the tens of billions – with the problem itself costing the country billions to deal with.
Money laundering is the process where criminals hide the proceeds of crime by disguising it as legitimate income from another business.
Cash can be laundered on a small scale with just one business or a large scale through financial institutions.
Money laundering is illegal because cops want crime to be unprofitable.
Hundreds of billions of pounds are thought to be knowingly and unknowingly laundered through banks.
The sentence depends on the amount of money involved – the seriousness of the offence increases with the amount of laundered cash.
Laundering drug money will typically lead to a higher sentence.
The money itself will also be subject to a confiscation order.
It comes after her assistant Jian Wen, 43, was jailed in 2024 for six years and eight months.
Wen was found guilty of one count of money laundering between October 2017 and January 2022.
The charge related to 150 Bitcoin, which is now worth an estimated £12.5m.
Her trial heard Wen was not involved in the alleged fraud but was said to have acted as a “front person” to help disguise the source of the money.
Some of the funds had been used to buy cryptocurrency and smuggled out of China on laptops.
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