Teenage Stock Market Wizard Caught in a Melodramatic Family Drama: Bed Partner Secretly Films Recovery Phrase, Steals $160 Million in BTC

Original Title: "Teenage Stock God Dramatizes Melodramatic Family Play: Firesale's Bedfellow Empties $1.6 Billion in BTC"

Original Author: Mach, Foresight News

If this story were made into a drama, it would definitely be a highly controversial melodramatic family suspense film that kicked off the year 2026—The protagonist is not just an ordinary person, but the former Hong Kong widely-known financial KOL Firesale, whose real name is Yuan Binghui, once crowned the "Teenage Stock God."

He made a fortune in his early years through stock trading and Bitcoin. His radio show "Star Firesale" was highly praised by numerous Hong Kong people, and he even published an investment book titled "I Borrowed the First Ten Million from Buffet."

However, no one expected the recent lawsuit to expose the most melodramatic family drama.

Bedfellow's Camera Sneakily Captures Seed Phrase to Steal BTC

In 2023, Firesale's divorce lawsuit reached the High Court in England. He accused his bedfellow, his wife Li Huanrong who was in the process of separating, and her sister of secretly installing hidden cameras in their Brighton mansion in the UK. They captured his entire process of entering the cold wallet PIN and storing the seed phrase, then directly transferred 2323 BTC.

After this case was recently reported in the Hong Kong newspapers Sing Tao Daily and Hong Kong Economic Times, as well as in the UK's Daily Mail and The Times, it sparked discussions among netizens in regions such as Hong Kong.

The event dates back to 2023. At that time, Firesale and Li Huanrong were going through a divorce, and surprisingly, the detonator of the whole affair was actually their eldest daughter. She privately revealed to Firesale that her mother might have Bitcoin in mind.

Firesale became wary at that moment. Instead of directly confronting the issue, he quietly installed recording devices at home to gather evidence.

According to court documents, the recordings captured the conversation between Li Huanrong and her sister word for word. Li Huanrong said, "The Bitcoin has been transferred to me, but will it be discovered that you took it?"

A more crucial and incriminating part of the conversation was, "It's okay, just take it all."

The two also discussed money laundering risks, using a second wallet, whether they would be monitored by the police... These conversations later became key evidence in court.

In the testimony submitted to the court by Fireburn, it was clearly stated that Li Huanrong secretly installed a hidden camera in the mansion to specifically capture his process of operating the Trezor hardware wallet.

That hardware wallet is not connected to the internet, protected by a 6-digit PIN, with the core being a 24-word mnemonic seed phrase. As long as someone has the seed phrase, they can restore the entire wallet on a different device, and the funds will change hands instantly.

Later, a total of 2323 BTC was indeed moved — split and transferred to 71 different addresses, remaining untouched ever since. Fireburn was dissatisfied with this and confronted Li Huanrong directly, only to end up being arrested himself. He admitted to one count of actual bodily harm and two counts of common assault. Afterwards, he immediately reported to the police, accusing Li Huanrong of coin theft. In December, Li Huanrong was arrested by the UK police and released on bail. During the police search, they found 10 hardware wallets, 5 sets of seed phrases, and several luxury watches on her side, some of which were confirmed to be Fireburn's property. However, the police stated at that time that there was no new evidence, so they did not dig deeper.

As of March 2026, the case has been formally handed over to the UK High Court for trial. The presiding judge, Cotter, after reviewing the transcript recordings, pointed out that the evidence held by the plaintiff was "devastating," stating that the likelihood of their success was extremely high.

Given the volatile nature of cryptocurrency prices, the judge has specially approved a global freeze order aimed at expediting the trial to ensure the value of the relevant assets. Although the defendant, Li Huanrong, vehemently denied knowledge of the asset transfers by submitting a sworn statement, the court has ruled to allow the civil litigation process to proceed.

Fireburn: Rise to Riches and Controversy

However, behind Fireburn's career achievements lies a series of controversies.

He graduated from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University's accounting department in 2003, and in his early years, he worked as a commentator at Hong Kong Radio and financial magazines. He rose to fame for his accurate market predictions around the 2007-2008 financial crisis (such as bearish on the property market, bullish on gold/yen strategies), earning him the title of "Young Stock God." He accumulated his initial capital through publishing several best-selling investment books, hosting financial programs, and personal stock investments.

Subsequently, he invested in Bitcoin, taking his wealth to new heights.

In his testimony to the UK High Court, Fireburn stated that he had been buying and holding a large amount of Bitcoin as early as between 2010 and 2013 (when the Bitcoin price ranged from a few dollars to several hundred dollars).

Holding 2323 Bitcoins to this day, valued at $232.3 million based on a $100,000 price calculation. At the current price of $70,000, it is worth approximately $163 million.

However, in 2017-2018, there were complaints about him promoting a cryptocurrency ATM investment that resulted in losses.

According to multiple media reports, Lamongson actively promoted a cryptocurrency named HE15 on his social media platforms and during seminars. Investors were required to pay around 20,000 to 30,000 Hong Kong dollars to purchase a so-called "cloud mining machine." This machine did not need to be brought home; it was operated by a hosting center, generated cryptocurrency daily, and could be exchanged for BTC or ETH on an exchange platform associated with Lamongson.

In mid-2018, the price of HE15 plummeted drastically, and the redemption channels were blocked. Investors found that they could not withdraw their assets or that the value had nearly gone to zero. Some investors even discovered that the so-called "high-performance mining machine" actually had very low hardware specifications and was priced much higher than its market value.

In early 2019, over 100 victims sought help from the Hong Kong Democratic Party and reported the incident to the police, with the total estimated amount involved being at least over 20 million Hong Kong dollars.

In April 2019, the Hong Kong Commercial Crime Bureau (CCB) took action and arrested multiple individuals from associated companies on suspicion of "conspiracy to commit fraud."

At that time, Lamongson was identified as the project's Key Opinion Leader (KOL), but he subsequently moved to the UK.

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