「Nữ hoàng khai thác mỏ」Lữ Vịnh Sương: Từng nắm giữ 9% sức mạnh tính toán Bitcoin toàn cầu, nhưng bị lừa 60 triệu NDT bởi 'Phò mã Trung Đông' tại Mỹ

Original author: Nicky, Foresight News

Caixin published an article on June 11 titled "Crypto Female Boss Defrauded of $60 Million in the US: How Did the 'Middle Eastern Royal' Brothers Set the Trap?" Following the clues in the article, we investigated the remarkable story of this "crypto female boss," Ms. Lyu, in the crypto world.

According to a Caixin report, a wealthy Chinese female crypto entrepreneur was defrauded in an investment scam in the United States, losing over $9.4 million (approximately RMB 60 million). The individual is Ms. Lyu, CEO of a computing technology company in Southwest China. During its peak, her mining pool is said to have accounted for about 9% of the global Bitcoin hashrate.

The report indicated that two brothers named Al Zubair, claiming to have "Middle Eastern royal" backgrounds, orchestrated the fraud through identity forgery. One posed as a "prince consort of the Middle Eastern royal family," claiming to control Middle Eastern family funds, international business connections, and resources from local US governments. The other impersonated a hedge fund manager, mimicking characters from the American TV series "Billions." The brothers successfully made contact with and influenced Michael Smedley, the Chief of Staff to the Mayor of East Cleveland, Ohio, ultimately inducing Ms. Lyu to sign a crypto mining farm development contract.

Ms. Lyu mentioned in the report is Lyu Yongshuang (Fiona Lyu), a female entrepreneur born in the 1980s. Her company, Chengdu Valarhash Technology Co., Ltd., operates two mining pools: 1THash and Bytepool.

According to the Caixin report, Lyu Yongshuang was born in Ningbo in the 1980s. Before entering the cryptocurrency industry, her life trajectory had no connection to finance or technology. In her early years, she worked in international trade and later founded a customized travel agency. She is an avid outdoor traveler, diver, and sailing enthusiast. In a 2020 interview, she mentioned spending over half of each year traveling the world between 2008 and 2018.

According to a previous TokenInsight report, she stumbled upon Bitcoin in 2013 and immediately dove headfirst into this emerging industry. At that time, China's cryptocurrency mining industry was still in its early stages, with miners needing to venture deep into the mountains of Southwest China to find cheap hydropower resources. Lyu recalled being among the first groups to "find electricity" in Sichuan. "Conditions were tough back then, but electricity was cheap and profits were high. Everyone was very excited."

In 2016, she officially began building her own mining farms. From 2017 to 2018, she transitioned into mining machine distribution. In July 2019, she founded Chengdu Valarhash Technology Co., Ltd., serving as CEO, integrating the business into a comprehensive platform encompassing mining pool operations, farm construction, machine hosting, and hashrate trading. In December of the same year, the company held a new product launch event in Chengdu, officially unveiling the two mining pool brands, 1THash and Bytepool, as well as the 1TMine hashrate contract trading platform.

During the peak period in the first half of 2020, 1THash ranked 7th globally among Bitcoin mining pools, and Bytepool ranked 11th. Together, the two pools controlled approximately 9% of the global Bitcoin hashrate. This was a staggering figure at the time, meaning that for every 100 Bitcoins mined globally, about 9 flowed to her pools.

A Government Ban and a Twist of Fate

On May 21, 2021, the Financial Stability and Development Committee under the State Council held its 51st meeting, explicitly calling for a "crackdown on Bitcoin mining and trading activities."

In mid-June, the Sichuan Provincial Development and Reform Commission and the Sichuan Provincial Energy Administration jointly issued a notice requiring power generation companies to self-inspect and immediately stop supplying electricity to cryptocurrency "mining" companies. For miners in Sichuan, this was the most devastating blow. Sichuan is China's largest mining hub, offering some of the cheapest electricity in the world, with hydropower prices as low as RMB 0.2-0.3 per kilowatt-hour during the wet season.

According to the Caixin report, Lyu Yongshuang later told friends it was an "extremely anxious" period. Her company had nine data centers distributed across China, the United States, Canada, Russia, and Sweden, but the core hashrate came from several major mining farms within China. "Overnight, thousands of mining machines were forced to shut down, and hundreds of containers were waiting to be shipped out. Every day felt like burning through money."

Source: Caixin

She ultimately chose the United States as the first stop for her overseas expansion. However, as she transported hundreds of shipping containers full of mining machines across the ocean, seeking a new foothold in Ohio, a carefully orchestrated scam awaited her.

According to the Caixin report, in July 2021, she was introduced through an intermediary to Zubair Al Zubair, a man who claimed to be the "prince consort of the UAE royal family," boasting of controlling Middle Eastern family funds and resources from local US governments. Zubair recommended an industrial property in East Cleveland, Ohio, known as Nela Park, promising to supply electricity at a low price of $0.04 per kilowatt-hour.

On August 11, 2021, a seemingly formal signing ceremony took place at the East Cleveland City Hall. Witnessed by municipal officials including then-Mayor Brandon King, Lyu Yongshuang, full of hope, signed a crypto mining farm development contract. She paid $3 million to Zubair's company, "Dubai Bridge," and wired an initial $1 million from her Hong Kong account.

Source: Caixin

However, this was merely the beginning of a meticulously planned scam. In reality, Zubair and his younger brother Muzammil were native-born Americans with no connection whatsoever to any Middle Eastern royal family. The older brother's claimed identity as a "prince consort" was entirely fabricated. The younger brother's title of "hedge fund manager" was "self-taught" by watching YouTube videos and following the American TV series "Billions."

In subsequent interactions, Zubair established a "close personal relationship" with Lyu Yongshuang. From Lyu's perspective, this relationship had a romantic nature. Prosecutors later pointed out that such personal relationships were part of Zubair's fraud pattern, aimed at reducing the likelihood of the victim questioning his claims.

The scam ultimately cost Lyu Yongshuang over $9.4 million (approximately RMB 60 million), including contract payments and 1,067 mining machines (selling price of $6.17 million) later stolen by Zubair's brother and resold to Canada. Furthermore, the signing ceremony held at the mayor's office was merely a false endorsement obtained by Zubair through bribing the Mayor's Chief of Staff, Michael Smedley.

In May 2026, the US Department of Justice announced the verdict: Zubair was sentenced to 24 years in prison, Muzammil to 23 years, and Smedley to 8 years. Lyu Yongshuang was identified in the case under the code name "Victim 2."

Another Legal Battle Back Home

While Lyu Yongshuang was entangled in the scam in the United States, she simultaneously faced another legal dispute in China—a lawsuit with Shanghai Jincai Network Technology Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of the A-share listed company ST Zhongchang (600242.SH).

Source: Shanghai Securities News

According to previous reports from The Economic Observer and Jiemian News, the catalyst for the incident was Li Qunnan, the then-chairman of ST Zhongchang. Between January and September 2021, Li Qunnan was suspected of misappropriating company funds to purchase Bitcoin mining machines and pay related hosting fees, totaling up to RMB 53.5472 million. Among these transactions, the company paid a total of RMB 30 million to Chengdu Valarhash for server (Bitcoin mining machine) purchases. These procurements were disclosed in the 2021 semi-annual report as "company fixed assets used for actual operations," but audit findings revealed that the relevant funds did not materially form assets on the company's books.

In this context, the new management of ST Zhongchang, seeking to recover losses, filed a lawsuit against Chengdu Valarhash in April 2022 on behalf of Shanghai Jincai. The lawsuit sought to terminate the "Computing Technical Service Contract" signed by both parties on April 1, 2021, and demanded the return of the contract price of RMB 19.2965 million.

In October 2022, the Chengdu High-tech Industrial Development Zone People's Court issued a first-instance verdict: the contract was deemed invalid due to its involvement in Bitcoin "mining" activities, and Chengdu Valarhash was ordered to refund RMB 19.2965 million within ten days. After the company appealed, the second-instance trial upheld the original verdict.

This lawsuit, from filing to final judgment, ran almost concurrently with Lyu Yongshuang's ordeal of being defrauded in the United States. On one side, a complete loss of $9.4 million overseas; on the other, a court order to refund nearly RMB 20 million in contract payments back home. Under this double blow, the "Mining Queen," who once commanded 9% of the world's Bitcoin hashrate, faced the darkest moment of her life.