A government-commissioned independent review has urged that judges and magistrates across England and Wales receive specialist training to handle a looming surge in cryptocurrency money laundering and AI-enabled fraud cases, warning that the courts are not equipped for the scale and complexity of digital crime now reaching them.
The second report from the Independent Review of Disclosure and Fraud Offences, chaired by barrister Jonathan Fisher KC and published Tuesday by the Home Office, recommends the Judicial College prepare all judges , including magistrates , for a likely wave of cases involving AI-generated fraud and the laundering of assets through cryptocurrencies. While the report finds the Fraud Act 2006 "broadly sound" and capable of addressing AI-enabled fraud, it warns that the judiciary hearing those cases increasingly lacks the necessary expertise.
"Tools once reserved for sophisticated criminals are now widely accessible," the review states, meaning magistrates and regional Crown Court centres "will face cases of a nature and scale they have not previously encountered." Complex fraud work is currently concentrated among a small group of judges in major cities, leaving regional courts short of both experience and infrastructure. Fisher suggested the existing optional "Long and Complex Trials" course may need updating , or replacing with a mandatory bespoke module on fraud and cryptocurrency.
The review notes that fraud may soon account for half of all crime in England and Wales, with an estimated 4.1 million offences in the year to June 2025. More than half of all investment scams now involve crypto-assets, according to the Financial Ombudsman Service, while a separate survey found 58% of adults had encountered AI-enabled financial fraud. Yet only 13% of fraud outcomes end in a charge.
The report highlights the case of Qian Zhimin, who ran a £5 billion Ponzi scheme in China before laundering proceeds into Bitcoin , leading to the largest cryptocurrency seizure in UK history, more than 61,000 BTC. The fate of those seized coins remains tied up in litigation between victims, the UK government, and Chinese authorities, underscoring the unprecedented challenges digital assets pose to the justice system.