A UK resident has accused his estranged wife of stealing 2,323 Bitcoin from his Trezor hardware wallet in 2023, claiming she used a security camera to capture his seed phrase and access codes.
In a judgment filed last Tuesday in the UK’s High Court of Justice, Justice Cotter reviewed claims from the plaintiff, Ping Fai Yuen, that his wife, Fun Yung Li, and her sister secretly recorded him to obtain his seed phrase and transfer approximately $176 million in Bitcoin to 71 different addresses.
According to the court documents, after being alerted by his daughter about the alleged plot, Ping installed audio recording equipment and reportedly captured Fun discussing the theft and strategies to move large sums of money without drawing attention from banks or law enforcement.
The documents also note that no transactions have occurred from any of the wallet addresses since December 21, 2023.
Ping reported the alleged theft to the police shortly after the last transfer. Authorities arrested his wife, confiscating several cold wallets and watches, before releasing her on bail pending investigation. Later, police stated that no “further action” would be taken unless new evidence emerges.
In November last year, nearly two years after the alleged theft, Ping Fai Yuen applied for an asset preservation injunction, requesting the court freeze all cryptocurrency associated with his wife, formally recognize his ownership of the Bitcoin, and either return it to him or award its equivalent value in fiat currency.
Ping also stated that he had been monitoring the Bitcoin addresses and raised concerns that they had been targeted in a crypto “dusting” attack. Dusting attacks occur when a bad actor sends small amounts of cryptocurrency to wallets in order to track activity and identify owners with large holdings for follow-up phishing or other scams.
Separately, in September 2024, an alleged violent confrontation between Ping and Fun Yung Li resulted in charges against Ping for assault occasioning actual bodily harm and two counts of common assault, to which he later pleaded guilty.
Justice Cotter indicated that Ping has a strong chance of success in his claim. The judge noted that the evidence collected since the alleged theft, combined with the fact that Fun Yung Li did not provide any alternative explanation for the Bitcoin transfers, supports a high probability of Ping prevailing.
“In my judgment, the claimant has demonstrated a very high probability of success,” Cotter wrote. “The evidence shows he was warned about what the First Defendant was seeking to do, the transcripts are damning, and when the First Defendant’s property was searched, the necessary equipment to exfiltrate the Bitcoin was found.”
The judge added that if the parties cannot agree on the next steps, the court will schedule a case management hearing. He also recommended an early trial, citing the security risks and volatility of the Bitcoin involved.
