A wife allegedly stole £180million of bitcoin from her husband by secretly filming inside their home to spy on his passwords.
Fun Yung Li took the cryptocurrency from Ping Fai Yuen while the couple discussed getting divorced, the High Court heard.
Yuen, 44, alleges that his wife installed a secret CCTV system which captured where he hid his security passwords at their family home in an exclusive Brighton neighbourhood, the Times reported.
The businessman is suing his wife and sister-in-law for the Bitcoin, which has an estimated value of between £160million and £180million. The case relates to 2,323 Bitcoin.
According to Mail Online, the cryptocurrency was held in a digital ledger with an access key stored on a digital ‘cold wallet’, which is not connected to the internet and is protected by a six-digit PIN code.
Yuen claims that he first learned his wife was attempting to steal his Bitcoin in July 2023 when his eldest daughter voiced her suspicions.
He installed audio recording equipment in the family home, and said he can prove beyond doubt that Li ‘obtained the seed phrase and exfiltrated the Bitcoin’.
His wife was allegedly recorded discussing CCTV cameras she had installed in the home.
One transcript contained the exchange: ‘The bitcoin has transferred to me but can it be seen that you have taken it?’
Yuen also allegedly recorded his wife discussing the risk of being referred to police over possible money laundering offences given the enormous sums in the digital wallet, the Times reported.
Yuen claims that Li transferred his cryptocurrency to 71 other blockchain accounts, possibly with the help of her sister, Lai Yung Li.
The businessman was arrested when he confronted his wife in August 2023, and eventually pleaded guilty to actual bodily harm and two offences of common assault.
Yuen in turn reported the alleged theft of the Bitcoin, and his wife was arrested that December, the Times reported.
Detectives who searched the home found ten cold wallets, five recovery seeds, and a number of watches.
Police have since confirmed they will take no further action pending new evidence, however.
Li, who was born in China and now lives in Hong Kong, has filed an affidavit through which she has claimed she was ‘unaware of any information required to be provided in response’ to questions about the transfer of the cryptocurrency.
During proceedings at the High Court, Mr Justice Cotter said Yuen had ‘demonstrated a very high probability of success’ in the case against his spouse.
‘The evidence is that he was warned of what [his wife] was seeking to do, the transcripts are damning and when the [wife’s] property was searched the necessary equipment to exfiltrate the bitcoin was found,’ the judge added.
‘She has had numerous opportunities to give her side of the story but has declined to do so.’
Yuen is seeking the return of the Bitcoin or its equivalent value, as well as a freezing order over any cryptocurrency assets held by his wife and her sister.
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