Authorities in the US and UK have launched a sweeping cybercrime crackdown targeting Cambodia's Prince Group, a powerful conglomerate accused of running forced-labor scam centers and a vast cryptocurrency fraud network. This week, federal prosecutors charged Chairman Chen Zhi with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering. Wired notes that the Justice Department also seized about 127,000 bitcoins – worth roughly $15 billion – the most valuable asset confiscation in its history.
The indictment portrays a vast enterprise that prosecutors say blended legitimate business operations with criminal activity on an industrial scale. Publicly, the Prince Holding Group presents itself as a diversified conglomerate spanning real estate, finance, and hospitality. Investigators allege that behind those fronts, Chen Zhi and his associates ran more than ten tightly controlled compounds across Cambodia, forcing trafficked workers to conduct investment and cryptocurrency scams targeting victims worldwide.
Federal officials described fortified compounds surrounded by barbed wire, where traffickers lured workers with fake job ads, imprisoned them, and forced them to run online fraud schemes. Prosecutors say these "pig butchering" operations – named for how scammers fatten victims' trust before draining their finances – generated billions in profits laundered through shell firms, real estate, and crypto. Justice Department filings allege that Chen oversaw the compounds and kept ledgers tracking profits, bribes, and tens of thousands of social media accounts used in the scams.
The US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control designated the Prince Group a transnational criminal organization and sanctioned 146 people and entities tied to Chen. The list includes holding companies across Cambodia, Hong Kong, Singapore, the British Virgin Islands, and the United Arab Emirates. The sanctions freeze US-based assets, bar American institutions from dealing with the targets, and blacklist four bitcoin addresses linked to the network, cutting them off from regulated exchanges worldwide.
In a parallel move, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network used Section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act to cut off Huione Group – a financial conglomerate accused of laundering money for regional cyberfraud rings – from the US financial system. FinCEN determined that Huione moved more than $4 billion through suspicious transactions tied to scams, human trafficking, and North Korean cybercrime operations.
British authorities carried out matching sanctions on Chen, the Prince Group, and connected affiliates. These include asset freezes on a North London mansion worth about £12 million and a £100 million office complex in London's financial district, both allegedly purchased with illicit funds.
The case took an unforeseen turn when blockchain analytics firm Elliptic reported that the bitcoins seized by US authorities match those stolen in a 2020 breach of LuBian, a cryptocurrency mining company operating in China and Iran. The attack, which exploited weak cryptographic key generation, drained more than 127,000 bitcoins from LuBian's wallets – a theft valued at about $3.5 billion at the time.
Elliptic said the same funds later appeared in accounts linked to the Prince Group, which prosecutors have identified as part of Chen Zhi's money laundering network. Investigators believe Chen Zhi's network likely rerouted the stolen assets through mining operations and shell firms to disguise their origins. However, it remains unclear who carried out the original hack or how the funds ultimately came under US control.
Analysts said the crackdown marks a turning point in how governments target criminal financial networks built around digital assets. By blocking access to the shell companies, wallets, and payment systems that sustain these organizations, regulators are attacking what one cybersecurity researcher described as the "financial core" of a new type of cyber-enabled trafficking economy.
Chen Zhi, 37, remains at large and is believed to be in Cambodia. Prosecutors said he could face up to 40 years in prison if convicted. The Prince Group's official channels have not responded to recent requests for comment.
Authorities seize $15 billion in Bitcoin after investigation into worldwide investment fraud
