Relationships are very tricky, even more so when Bitcoin is involved. Imagine trusting someone completely, only to discover they secretly filmed your seed phrase to steal your Bitcoin. That’s the case before UK courts right now.
Ping Fai Yuen, a British resident, alleges that his estranged wife pilfered Bitcoin in 2023. She reportedly used a covert security camera to capture the seed phrase and access details for his Trezor hardware wallet.
According to court filings from Justice Cotter delivered last Tuesday, Ping’s legal team accuses his wife, Fun Yung Li, along with her sister, of pulling off this elaborate scheme.
How did Fun Yung Li steal her husband’s Bitcoin?
They allegedly recorded him discreetly, snagged the critical recovery phrase, then drained 2,323 Bitcoin, worth a staggering $176 million at the time, and scattered it across 71 different wallet addresses.
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The plot thickened when Ping’s own daughter reportedly tipped him off about the scheme. He fought back by planting audio recorders and says he caught damning conversations where Fun openly discussed the theft and clever ways to shift massive crypto sums without tripping alarms at banks or with authorities. Those recordings? Described in court as absolutely devastating.
Since the final transfer on December 21, 2023, nothing has moved from those addresses, giving investigators a frozen trail to follow. Ping alerted police right after the last transaction, leading to his wife’s arrest just days later. Officers managed to get hold of several cold wallets and even some luxury watches during the raid. Though she was released on bail during the probe, authorities eventually decided against further action unless fresh proof surfaced.
In November 2024, nearly two years after the alleged heist, Ping returned to court seeking an asset freeze injunction. His plea is that the court recognize the Bitcoin as his, return it right away, or reimburse it in cash.
Additionally, he has been monitoring those wallet addresses and raised concerns about potential “dusting attacks,” in which con artists scatter small amounts of cryptocurrency to identify large holders and set up phishing traps in the future.
After a violent altercation with Fun in September 2024, Ping was charged with assault; he later entered a guilty plea to related charges, adding fuel to this already intense family drama.
Ping has a very good chance of winning, according to Justice Cotter, who cited the abundance of evidence he has gathered, including the equipment found during the search and those damning audio clips.
Fun, the court noted, offered zero alternative explanation for why the wife stole Bitcoin using CCTV to enable the transfers. “The transcripts are damning,” Cotter wrote, highlighting how the warning from his daughter, combined with the physical proof recovered, paints a compelling picture.
The judge stressed Bitcoin’s wild price swings and real security risks make a swift trial essential. If the couple can’t sort out next steps themselves, the court will step in with a management hearing to push things forward.
This case is a wild reminder of how personal betrayals can collide with the unforgiving world of crypto, where one captured seed phrase can vanish a fortune in seconds. Stay tuned; this story is far from over. And guard your seed phrase like you would guard your life.
