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On October 14, local time, the U.S. government identified the Prince of Cambodia group as a transnational criminal organization, accused of telecom fraud and imposed sanctions on it. According to Bloomberg reports, the U.S. Department of Justice has filed lawsuits against the founder of the Prince of Cambodia group, Chen, who has double citizenship in Cambodia and the United Kingdom, and seized $15 billion worth of Bitcoin.

Prince Group describes itself as a real estate and financial services company with operations in more than 30 countries. However, U.S. prosecutors said in court documents that the group operated electronic fraud parks across Cambodia, and many people were forced to engage in fraudulent activities in the parks, using "pig butchering scampig" methods to commit cryptocurrency investment frauds.

U.S. prosecutors said that workers engaged in fraud were often lured in by fake high-paying jobs and concentrated in large dormitories in the park surrounded by high walls and barbed wire fences. If workers refuse to participate in fraud activities, they will be beaten or face threats of violence.

Court documents revealed that Chen and his accomplices run a massive ¡°mobile farm¡± using 1,250 phones and controlling about 7,60,000 social media accounts. Members of e-fraud groups typically spend months developing complex relationships with victims, gaining each other¡¯s trust and trust, and then deceiving them to transfer funds to fake investment platforms controlled by fraudsters.

Photos of "mobile farm" allegedly used for e-fraud displayed in U.S. Justice Department court documents

The e-fraud group also teaches employees how to build a ¡°harmonial relationship¡± with the victim, suggesting using ¡°not beautiful¡± women¡¯s photos to pretend women to make the fraud look more credible.

Court documents allege that Chen Zhi and his accomplices used Prince's vast business network to launder money, including online gambling and cryptocurrency mining. One co-conspirator once boasted in 2018 that telefraud could earn more than $30 million a day.

The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against Chen Zhi, 38. He faces a number of charges including telecom fraud and money laundering. If convicted, he can be sentenced to up to 40 years in prison. According to the Ministry of Justice, Chen Zhi is still at large.

Chen Zhi, founder of the Prince of Cambodia Group

The U.S. Department of Justice also seized 12,7271 bitcoins worth $15 billion, saying they were the proceeds of Chen¡¯s fraud and money laundering activities. Bloomberg noted that bitcoin was originally stored in the defendant¡¯s own private key, but U.S. prosecutors did not specify how they gained control of those bitcoins.

The U.S. Treasury has imposed sanctions on Chen and his accomplices, as well as more than 100 entities associated with the Prince Group, including several companies registered in the British Virgin Islands, the Taiwan region of China and Singapore. U.S. companies and individuals cannot do business with the group, otherwise they will face sanctions and all of the group¡¯s assets in the United States will be frozen.

"The rapid increase in transnational fraud has cost American citizens billions of dollars and wiped out their life savings in minutes," Treasury Secretary Bescent said in a statement. "This prosecution and the largest seizure in the history of the department demonstrates our determination to use all means to combat this type of crime," said John Eisenberg, assistant secretary for national security at the Justice Department.

In addition, the United Kingdom and the United States launched a joint operation and also imposed sanctions on Chen Zhihe Prince Group. According to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the British government has frozen all assets of the "fraud network" in the UK, including 19 properties worth £ 130 million in London.

British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said: "We are taking decisive action with our U.S. allies to address the growing threat posed by this network-safeguarding human rights, protecting British citizens and preventing black money from entering our streets."

Last month, the U.S. Treasury¡¯s overseas asset control office imposed financial and diplomatic sanctions on large multinational e-fraud groups active in Southeast Asia, accusing them of ¡°stolen billions of dollars from Americans through forced labor and violence.¡±

Telecom fraud has increased in Southeast Asia in recent years, with the U.S. government estimating that fraud from the region will cause Americans at least $10 billion in losses by 2024, up 66 percent from the previous year.

The Observer Network.

Extended reading

The UK¡¯s largest Bitcoin money laundering case involving a large number of Chinese investors has made recent progress.

On September 29, local time, China's Tianjin Blue Sky Grexit illegal fundraising case principal Wang Zhongming was tried in London's Southwark criminal court, during which he admitted related allegations about Bitcoin money laundering.

Money sensitive photos.

A blue sky victim confirmed the progress to the interface news, but they had no idea how much they could recover the loss next.

The British side will initiate confiscation proceedings in the light of the confession of money.The trial is expected to last 12 weeks.Many Chinese victims will testify in a remote video court in Tianjin.

This year¡¯s 47-year-old Wang Zemin (formerly Zhang Adhi, Flowers) pleaded guilty to all money laundering allegations at the trial on 21 October 2024. Her lawyer said: ¡°The Wang Zemin denies all criminal charges and intends to actively defend the case.¡±

The trial process of the case is very concerned, because Wang Xiaomin was also the culprit behind the illegal fundraising campaign in Tianjin Blue Sky 8 years ago, and the criminal gang led by her was accused of exchanging those funds for Bitcoin assets after fleeing to British consumption. Involved in which 12,8,000 Chinese investors have been actively pursuing repayment, but are always facing multiple difficulties such as cross-border debt pursuit, virtual currency ownership, value conversion.

The entrusted lawyer has helped the creditor submit a civil recovery application to the British High Court.

In this regard, the British Prosecutor¡¯s Office specifically informed the Chinese victims that the agency has initiated a civil recovery procedure for assets frozen by the British side from the money sensitive side, and will only engage in interstate contacts after the progress of the procedure is carried out to the extent provided for in Article 281 of the 2002 Criminal Income Recovery Act.

If no other individuals or entities claim the rights to the crime assets, half will be owned by the British police and the other half will be assigned to the British Ministry of the Interior in order to facilitate the processing of proceeds from crime and prevent further crime.

In 2017, China's seven ministries jointly called for the cessation of all kinds of token issuance financing activities. At the time, 8,600 illegal fundraising cases were investigated nationwide, and 50 cases of more than 100 million yuan were involved.

After the incident, Qian Zhimin escaped abroad through a forged passport from a Commonwealth country, and carried with him a laptop with an encrypted wallet, which contained Bitcoin transferred out in advance through his subordinate Huobi account.

After arriving in the UK, she hired a Chinese woman named Jiang Wen in London to help her travel across Europe, including Switzerland, Italy, Greece, with the aim of using illegal income for real estate, cars, jewelry and other commodities.

Meanwhile, the UK Financial Regulatory Authority began combating the crime of money laundering through cryptocurrency assets.In 2018, Cash and Winnie tried to buy a luxury home worth £23.5 million directly with Bitcoin, eventually attracted police attention because of the unknown history of the funds.

British mansion where Jian Wen lives with Qian Zhimin Photo/Network

After being arrested by the police, Wang Zemin escaped in advance. The latterly planned to invest in Liberia, a small ¡°nation¡± of Eastern Europe not recognized by the international community, in order to be elected ¡°leader¡± locally, and to obtain diplomatic immunity after building Europe¡¯s largest Buddhist temple and airport.

London police repeatedly searched the two people and their homes during the new coronavirus and eventually froze 61,000 bitcoins under the 2002 Criminal Income Tracking Act, the largest in the country's history.

Britain's Crime Proceeds Recovery Act 2002 stipulates the criminal confiscation system for criminal proceeds as the object and the civil recovery for illegal proceeds as the object. On March 18, 2024, a jury found Wen Jian guilty of participating in money laundering, and the latter was subsequently sentenced to six years and eight months in prison.

Wang Zemin appeared for the first time in the Westminster district court on May 22 as Zhang Yadi, with Senghok Ling. There is no further public information about the latter's identity and details of the case.