UK court in awe after woman is allegedly accused of stealing 2,323 BTC worth $176M after allegedly using CCTV to capture husband’s seed phrase and wallet access

A UK High Court case centers on allegations that a woman secretly used home CCTV to capture her husband’s Bitcoin seed phrase and then transferred 2,323 BTC—worth around $172–176 million at the time—out of his hardware wallet without his consent. The claimant, UK resident Ping Fai Yuen, alleges his estranged wife Fun Yung Li (also referred to in some reports as Ms Yuen) and her sister Lai Yung Li recorded him entering or hiding his Trezor wallet credentials, enabling them to recreate the wallet and move the funds across 71 Bitcoin addresses. According to court filings, the full 2,323 BTC balance was moved on 2 August 2023 from Yuen’s Trezor cold wallet, which was protected by a PIN but ultimately recoverable via a 24‑word seed phrase that was allegedly captured on video. After being warned by his daughter that his wife was trying to access the Bitcoin, Yuen installed audio recording equipment in the home; transcripts cited by the court include alleged remarks by Li such as “The Bitcoin has transferred to me” and references to “take all of it,” as well as discussions of how to move large sums without alerting banks or law enforcement. Police later arrested Li and seized multiple cold wallets, and Yuen subsequently sought a proprietary asset preservation injunction to freeze related crypto, have the court recognize his ownership, and order return of the BTC or equivalent fiat value. In a judgment on that injunction, Justice Cotter of the High Court wrote that Yuen has a “very high probability of success,” pointing to the daughter’s warning, the audio transcripts, the pattern of transfers, and the seizure of equipment allegedly used to exfiltrate the coins, while noting that Li has not provided any alternative explanation for the Bitcoin movements. The case is significant because it tests how English courts handle questions of ownership, tracing, and recovery of large digital-asset holdings, and it underlines the security risks of exposing seed phrases to surveillance, even inside the home. "entities":["Ping Fai Yuen","Fun Yung Li","Lai Yung Li","Justice Cotter","UK High Court of Justice","Trezor","Bitcoin (BTC)"]}`

✨ AI-generated background, compiled from web sources — not editorial content.

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