Phoenix Network, The Storm Eye.
On October 15, Beijing time, a piece of news from the U.S. Department of Justice blew through transnational crime.
They formally filed criminal charges against Chen Zhi, founder of Cambodia Prince Group, on the charges of telecom fraud and money laundering.
What is even more shocking is that this time, the United States directly confiscated about 127271 bitcoins, which is a total of US$15 billion based on the current market value, equivalent to almost 106.9 billion yuan in RMB.
The U.S. Department of Justice said it was the largest confiscation in the industry’s history.
01
Asia’s largest multinational criminal organization
In Cambodia, Chen Zhi was once a well-known "figure."
The 38-year-old, with the English name "Vincent" and dual British and Cambodia citizenship, declares himself to be a "business elite" engaged in real estate, finance and consumer services.
In July 2020, Prince Group holding founder Chen Zhi (left) took a photo of him after he was awarded the Ockner Medal by then-Cambodian Prime Minister Huntsen (right).
But the indictment thrown out by the U.S. prosecutor on October 14 at the New York Federal Court directly ripped his disguise ——who is this entrepreneur, clearly the “speaker” of Asia’s largest multinational criminal organization!
As early as 2015, Chen Zhi started setting up with the Prince Group.
He has established companies in more than 30 countries around the world, which appear to operate in compliance with regulations, in fact, he hides the fraud.
Among them, the most outrageous is the scam park he operates in Cambodia, and it’s not small yet.
The prosecutors mentioned in court documents that the gang specialized in the "mobile farm", stored 1,250 mobile phones and controlled 7,60,000 social media accounts.
These accounts were not used to brush short videos, but a fraudulent “click-on brick.”
Gang members first use social software or communication tools to contact the victims, spend time asking about their well-being and cultivating feelings, and when the victims completely trust them, they begin to "draw a big picture":"Transfer the cryptocurrency to this account and you will be sure to make a lot of money!" But when the victim really transferred the money, the account was immediately emptied, with no interest or capital.
In Brooklyn, New York, Chen also hired a “money laundering division.”
This group of people specially helped him transfer fraudulent money, involving millions of dollars. At least 250 people across the United States fell into this trap.
Cheating money, Chen Zhi is not out of hand, all spent on “show rich”.
The U.S. Department of Justice investigation found that he first used the sophisticated "dispersed + aggregated" method of money laundering, split the money into countless small amounts, and then through multiple accounts, bypassing regulation, began to crazy waste.
Luxury travel, expensive watches, private jets, and even the purchase of Picasso paintings from an auction house in new york. Every penny spent on these costs is the hard-earned money of the victims, others' pension money, medical treatment money and children's tuition money.
02
Cruel human trafficking and forced labor
More importantly, Chen Zhi was not only responsible for the simple “killing of pigs”, but was also suspected of cruel human trafficking and forced labor.
According to the Ministry of Justice document, hundreds of people were tricked or trafficked to Cambodia and forced to engage in crypto investment scams in scam parks. Their passports were confiscated, their personal freedom was restricted, and they were threatened with violence and even beaten when they refused to obey.
U.S. prosecutors described the criminal network as "a combination of modern slavery and high-tech fraud." The scale of its operations and the cruelty of its control methods far exceed the previously exposed Southeast Asian "pig killing plate" group.
In this criminal activity, scammers themselves are often victims of human trafficking and forced labor. They were subjected to brutal control by their kidnappers, including physical abuse, isolation, restriction of movement, arbitrary fines and charges, threats of sexual exploitation and confiscation of personal documents and electronic equipment.
In addition, the U.S. Treasury Department also stated that one of the fraud groups under the Prince Group is Jin Bei Group Co. Ltd. A luxury hotel and casino company linked to extortion, fraud, forced labor and reports of the brutal killing of a 25-year-old China citizen in 2023.
In 2022, the FBI busted a Chinese money laundering network in New York and confirmed that 259 Americans had been defrauded of $18 million by the Jinbei Group.
Although the Prince's Group had previously tried to clear the boundaries with the fraudulent activities of the King's Group, the Cambodian government's press release in June 2025 confirmed that the King's Casino was owned by the King's Holding Group and Chen Zhi was chief executive officer.
At the same time, the U.S. Treasury Department also sorted out the ins and outs of the complicated internal personnel composition and illegal activities of Prince Group, and imposed sanctions on dozens of affiliated companies.
Its members come from Chongqing, Hong Kong and Taiwan, as well as Singapore, the UK, Cambodia, Palau and other countries, mostly Chinese.
According to the U.S. Treasury Department, all property and property interests in the United States or held or controlled by Americans are frozen and must be reported to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for those involved in the case of Prince Group and related organizations. In addition, any entity that is 50% or more owned directly or indirectly, individually or collectively by one or more of the frozen persons will also be frozen.
03
19 houses in London have been frozen and no one has been caught.
In the face of Chen's evil deeds, the United States and Britain both acted.
U.S. Attorney General James Bond said in a statement: “Today’s action is one of the strongest strikes we have taken against the global wickedness of human trafficking and cyber financial fraud.”
The meaning is clear: no matter how big you are, as long as you commit the law, don't want to run.
U.S. Attorney Nocella even directly shouted to scammers around the world: "This historic lawsuit and confiscation indictment will send a strong signal to scammers around the world: no matter where you are, we will pursue you."
The statement is not frightening, the U.S. Treasury’s Office for Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has put 146 individuals and entities associated with the Prince Group on the sanctions list, including not only Chen and company executives, but also empty shell companies and holding companies across Cambodia, Hong Kong, Singapore, the British Virgin Islands and the UAE.
Now these people's American assets are all frozen, and American individuals and financial institutions can't do any transactions with them, which is equivalent to cutting off their "financial path" in the United States.
In addition, according to data from the U.S. Treasury Department, losses caused by cyber-investment fraud have continued to rise over the past few years to a total of more than $16.6 billion. An estimate from the U.S. government shows that Americans will lose at least $10 billion in fraud activity in Southeast Asia in 2024, up 66 percent from the previous year, with fraud cases such as the Prince Group being severe.
Britain also froze 19 properties in London, with a total value of more than £100 million, and one of them in North London, with a market value of £12 million, in exchange for £1 billion.
Cooper, the new British foreign minister, bluntly said: "The planners of these terrible fraud centers are destroying the lives of vulnerable people and buying properties in London to store their money." Think about it, the victim is worried about his livelihood, but the fraudster lives in a mansion in London, which no one can bear.
What’s more unexpected, authorities also accused Chen’s network of expanding its operations to Palau, a Pacific island country, by renting the islands through its subsidiary and planning to develop resort projects with suspicious funds.
Law enforcement agencies say the camps involved not only fraud, but also human trafficking, torture and forced labor, many of whom were seduced by false recruitment and forced to commit fraud.
However, at present, Chen Zhi has not been arrested. If convicted of crimes including conspiracy to commit telecommunications fraud and conspiracy to money laundering, he may face up to 40 years in prison.
References:
The United States severely attacks Cambodia's largest electric fraud "pig killing plate"! The 38-year-old Chinese real estate giant is behind it, using Bitcoin to launder money. Business Experience in North America