A WIFE has been accused of setting up secret cameras to steal a £180million bitcoin fortune from her husband during their acrimonious divorce.
Fun Yung Li allegedly had a covert CCTV system installed to film her husband entering his security passwords.
Businessman Ping Fai Yuen is suing his wife and sister-in-law over the alleged furtive filming.
Yuen, 44, told the High Court he believed the two women had put up secret CCTV cameras in their family home in Brighton.
He claimed that in July 2023 his daughter told him Li was attempting to steal his bitcoin fortune, the Times reports.
After this revelation, he said he installed his secret audio equipment of his own to try and obtain proof of the subterfuge.
In one recording, his now estranged wife can allegedly be heard saying: “The bitcoin has transferred to me but can it be seen that you have taken it?”
Another transcript reads: “It is OK. Take all of it.”
Yuen’s cryptocurrency was held in a secure address behind multiple stringent security, password and PIN barriers.
But he alleged Li had recorded him entering his “seed phrase”, a randomly generated string of 24 words which acts as a master password.
This would have allowed the women to recreate his “cold wallet” device and access his mountain of bitcoin.
The businessman alleged his covert audio recordings prove Li “obtained the seed phrase and exfiltrated the bitcoin”, which is estimated to be worth between £160million and £180million.
The court heard Yuen confronted his wife when he discovered the bitcoin had disappeared in August 2023.
This resulted in an altercation for which he was arrested and pleaded guilty to actual bodily harm and two offences of common assault.
Li was arrested in December 2023 after her husband reported the theft of the bitcoin.
But police said they will take no further action unless further evidence comes to light.
In a formal statement written under oath, Li – who now resides in Hong Kong – denied the allegations and insisted she was “unaware of any information required to be provided in response”.
In the High Court, Mr Justice Cotter recommended an early trial as Yuen had “demonstrated a very high probability of success” in bringing the legal action.
“The evidence is that he was warned of what [Li] was seeking to do, the transcripts are damning and when the [Li] property was searched the necessary equipment to exfiltrate the bitcoin was found,” Mr Cotter said.
“She has had numerous opportunities to give her side of the story but has declined to do so.”
Yuen is claiming the return of the bitcoin or its equivalent value, as well as an order for his wife and sister-in-law’s crypto assets to be frozen.
