LONDON (AP) — A Chinese woman who was found with 5 billion pounds ($6.6 billion) in Bitcoin after defrauding more than 128,000 people in China in a Ponzi scheme was sentenced by a U.K. court on Tuesday to over 11 years in prison.

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Police said the investigation into Zhimin Qian, 47, led to officers recovering devices holding 61,000 Bitcoin in the largest cryptocurrency seizure in the U.K.

Qian, dubbed “cryptoqueen” by British media, was arrested in April 2024 after spending years evading the authorities and living an “extravagant” lifestyle in Europe, staying in luxury hotels across the continent and buying fine jewelry and watches, prosecutors said.

Police said she ran a pyramid scheme that lured more than 128,000 people to invest in her business between 2014 and 2017, including many who invested their life savings and pensions. Authorities said she stored the illegally obtained funds in Bitcoin assets.

When she attracted the attention of Chinese authorities, Qian fled to the U.K. under a fake identity. Once in London, police said she rented a “lavish” house for over 17,000 pounds ($23,000) per month, and tried but failed to buy multimillion pound properties in a bid to convert the Bitcoin.

Investigators found notes Qian had written documenting her aspirations — including her “intention to become the monarch of Liberland, a self-proclaimed country consisting of a strip of land between Croatia and Serbia.”

They said other notes showed Qian detailing her hopes of “meeting a duke and royalty.”

Judge Sally-Ann Hales said Qian was the architect of the crimes from start to finish.

“Your motive was one of pure greed. You left China without a thought for the people whose investments you had stolen and enjoyed for a period of time a lavish lifestyle. You lied and schemed, all the while seeking to benefit yourself,” Hales said.

The businesswoman, who had pleaded guilty to money laundering offenses and transferring and possessing criminal property, was sentenced Tuesday to 11 years and eight months at Southwark Crown Court.

She was sentenced alongside her accomplice Seng Hok Ling, 47, a Malaysian national who was accused of helping Qian transfer and launder the cryptocurrency. Ling was jailed at the same court for four years and 11 months after he pleaded guilty to one count of transferring criminal property.

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has pardoned Tennessee Republican Rep. Diana Harshbarger’s husband, who pleaded guilty more than a decade ago to health care fraud and other crimes and served time in federal prison.

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Robert Harshbarger Jr. was a licensed pharmacist in 2013 when he admitted substituting a cheaper drug imported from China that was not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the iron sucrose that the FDA had approved for kidney dialysis patients to use. He was sentenced to and served four years in prison.

Trump signed the pardon document on Friday, according to the website of the Office of the Pardon Attorney in the Department of Justice. It was among several pardons the Republican president issued, including to a former speaker of the Tennessee House and to former Major League Baseball slugger and New York Mets great Darryl Strawberry.

Trump last week also pardoned a former New York police sergeant who was convicted of helping China try to scare an ex-official into going back to his homeland. On Monday, Trump pardoned his former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, his onetime chief of staff Mark Meadows and many others accused of backing his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

A White House official on Tuesday defended the pardon for Harshbarger, saying that he was a victim of “excessive prosecution” and that the drug substitution he made was a common practice among pharmacists known as “compounding,” in which unapproved drugs are provided to patients based on their condition or for other reasons. The official insisted on anonymity to discuss the reasoning behind Trump’s clemency decision.

Presidents have broad constitutional powers to grant pardons, which do not erase criminal convictions but can be seen as acts of justice or mercy, often in cases that can further public welfare.

Harshbarger turned to the Chinese drug due to a backlog of the iron sucrose drug, the White House official said. No patients were alleged to have been harmed by the substitution, and doctors seemed to prefer the drug Harshbarger gave them because it was easier to administer, the official said.

Prosecutors said that even though there were no reports of patients being harmed, Harshbarger’s substitution still put patients at risk since the FDA cannot assure the safety and effectiveness of products from other countries.

Harshbarger has served his sentence, the official said. He also was ordered to pay restitution, pay a fine and forfeit $425,000 in cash.

Rep. Harshbarger, who is also a licensed pharmacist, was first elected to the U.S. House in 2020 and has been a strong supporter of Trump. She spoke in support of Trump outside his hush money criminal trial in New York in 2024 and in other settings.

Trump has backed all of her congressional campaigns and offered her his “Complete and Total Endorsement” for reelection in 2026 in a Nov. 3 social media post.

She was not a member of Congress when her husband pleaded guilty in 2013 to one count of distributing a misbranded drug and one count of health care fraud.

Robert Harshbarger’s license was revoked in 2013 after the conviction, according to the website of the Tennessee Department of Health. The congresswoman remains licensed, the records show.

The congresswoman’s office in Washington did not immediately respond to a telephone message seeking comment.

GENEVA (AP) — A blue diamond weighing nearly 10 carats has sold at auction in Switzerland for 20.5 million Swiss francs ($26.6 million) including fees.

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The pear-shaped 9.51-carat “Mellon Blue” — named for the late American arts patron Rachel “Bunny” Mellon — had been expected to fetch $20-$30 million at the Christie’s auction on Tuesday.

The house said the stone came in on the estimated range. The final price includes the “buyer’s premium” and other fees.

“Not the dazzling moment I expected,” said Tobias Kormind, managing director of online jeweler 77 Diamonds. He said the gem was “tipped as the season’s headline act” but was weighed down by a broader market mood.

“Geopolitical tensions — from the war in Ukraine to Trump’s tariffs — and a weakened Chinese economy that kept many usual buyers away, left the room distinctly cautious,” he said in a statement.

Auctioneer Rahul Kadakia, chairman of the global luxury group at Christie’s, hailed a “notable moment” for his team, “evidencing the elite appetite among collectors for extraordinary and storied gems.”

It was a far cry from the peak sale for a blue diamond: Christie’s says its highest price for a vivid blue diamond was set in Geneva in 2016 when the 14.62-carat Oppenheimer Blue sold for more than $57 million.

The Mellon Blue was previously sold in 2014, the year that Mellon died, for $32.6 million, which was one of the highest prices ever paid for a colored diamond at auction, Christie’s says.

For decades, the stone was part of Mellon’s private collection.

Max Fawcett, Christie’s global head of jewelry, said the Mellon Blue was unlike the vast majority of other modern gems that have had facets added and been modified to enhance the color.

“When you have great shape and great color, you’re looking at the gem of gems,” he said Friday, noting the stone’s grade of Fancy Vivid Blue and Internally Flawless by the Gemological Institute of America. “That’s what this is.”

The auction was the first installment of two days of jewelry auctions in Geneva. On Wednesday, rival Sotheby’s is putting up the “Glowing Rose” pink diamond that’s expected to draw bids of around $20 million.

MORRISTOWN, N.J. (AP) — Ace Frehley, the original lead guitarist and founding member of the glam rock band Kiss, died from blunt force injuries to the head that he suffered in a fall earlier this year, an autopsy has determined.

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Frehley died peacefully on Oct. 16 surrounded by family in Morristown, New Jersey, a few weeks after the fall occurred, according to his agent.

The Morris County Medical Examiner’s Office determined Frehley’s death was an accident. The report said Frehley, 74, suffered facial fractures near the eyes and left ear and also had bruising on his left abdomen and thigh area and his right hip and upper thigh.

Kiss, whose hits included “Rock and Roll All Nite” and “I Was Made for Lovin’ You,” was known for its theatrical stage shows, with fire and fake blood spewing from the mouths of band members dressed in body armor, platform boots, wigs and signature black-and-white face paint.

Kiss’ original lineup included Frehley, singer-guitarist Paul Stanley, tongue-wagging bassist Gene Simmons and drummer Peter Criss. Frehley’s is the first death among the four founding members.

Band members took on the personas of comic book-style characters — Frehley was known as “Space Ace” and “The Spaceman.” The New York-born entertainer and Rock & Roll Hall of Famer often experimented with pyrotechnics, making his guitars glow, emit smoke and shoot rockets from the headstock.

Born Paul Daniel Frehley, he grew up in a musical family and began playing guitar at age 13. Before joining Kiss, he played in local bands around New York City and was a roadie for Jimi Hendrix at age 18.

Kiss was especially popular in the mid-1970s, selling tens of millions of albums and licensing its iconic look to become a marketing marvel. “Beth” was its biggest commercial hit in the U.S., peaking at No. 7 on the Billboard Top 100 in 1976.

Frehley frequently feuded with Stanley and Simmons through the years. He left the band in 1982, missing the years when they took off the makeup and had mixed success, while Frehley performed both as a solo artist and with his band, Frehley’s Comet.

But he rejoined Kiss in the mid-1990s for a triumphant reunion and restoration of their original style that came after bands including Nirvana, Weezer and the Melvins had expressed affection for the band and paid them musical tributes.

He would leave again in 2002. When the original four entered the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2014, a dispute scrapped plans for them to perform. Simmons and Stanley objected to Criss and Frehley being inducted instead of then-guitarist Tommy Thayer and then-drummer Eric Singer.