Phnom Penh-based Prince Group has recently been branded a transnational criminal syndicate by the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Treasury, with its founder and chairman Chen Zhi (still at large) indicted on charges of running scam operations and laundering ...Read more
Phnom Penh-based Prince Group has recently been branded a transnational criminal syndicate by the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Treasury, with its founder and chairman Chen Zhi (still at large) indicted on charges of running scam operations and laundering billions across 30 countries.
Chen Zhi, the founder of Prince Holding Group (incorporated in Cambodia), is accused by U.S. authorities of operating forced-labor compounds in Cambodia and masterminding a global financial network built on fraud, money laundering, and illicit financial flows.
What is Prince Group — and who is Chen Zhi?
The enterprise widely branded as Prince Group was founded in 2015 and holds subsidiaries across real estate, hospitality, banking, e-commerce, and other sectors. The U.S. government claims the group hides behind “dozens of business entities” across more than 30 nations and has evolved into one of Asia’s largest criminal networks.
Chen Zhi is a 37-year-old originally from mainland China, now a naturalized Cambodian citizen (and allegedly also holding a UK passport, though this is disputed). The U.S. and UK have imposed sanctions against him, and he faces indictment in the United States.
A civil forfeiture complaint was lodged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York and the DOJ National Security Division seeking seizure of 127,271 Bitcoin (worth about $15 billion) as proceeds or tools of his alleged fraud and money laundering operations. According to U.S. authorities, these assets were stored in “unhosted cryptocurrency wallets,” whose private keys were supposedly held by Chen Zhi — and are now in the custody of the U.S. government.
The State Department described this as the “largest ever forfeiture action” in the history of the Justice Department. Chen Zhi is indicted but presumed innocent until proven guilty; if convicted, he faces up to 40 years behind bars.
The UK Embassy in Phnom Penh has stated that Zhi does not hold a UK passport.
Why is this significant — what you need to know
Criminal model & financial mechanics
In U.S. filings, Prince Group is said to have worked under Chen Zhi’s instructions to employ advanced cryptocurrency laundering methods; for instance, “spraying” and “funneling,” in which large sums of crypto are fragmented across many addresses and then recombined, to disguise their origin.
According to the U.S. State Department:
“Some of these criminal proceeds were ultimately held in wallets at cryptocurrency exchanges or exchanged for traditional currency and stored in traditional bank accounts.
“Other criminal proceeds included the Defendant Cryptocurrency, which was stored in unhosted cryptocurrency wallets whose private keys the defendant personally held.
“The defendant maintained diagrams recording the process by which some of the Defendant Cryptocurrency was laundered. The defendant boasted to others of Prince Group’s mining businesses that ‘the profit is considerable because there is no cost’ — that is, unlike legitimate enterprises, the operating capital for the cryptocurrency mining businesses consisted of money stolen from Prince Group’s many victims.”
Thus, the scheme allegedly used victims’ funds as capital for crypto mining and other operations — providing “profit with no cost.”
To shield the enterprise from exposure, Chen Zhi and his inner circle are accused of using political influence and bribery in various countries. Law enforcement claims they routed illicit proceeds through ostensibly legitimate arms of the group such as online gambling or crypto mining to mask their origin.
Luxury purchases were also part of the mix: Chen Zhi and associates reportedly used proceeds to acquire yachts, private jets, high-end watches, art (including a Picasso via a New York auction), vacation homes, and other valuables.
Human trafficking, forced labor, and scam compounds
The U.S. State Department asserts that in Cambodia, individuals were held in compounds and forced to run cryptocurrency investment fraud schemes, specifically so-called “pig butchering” scams defrauding victims worldwide of billions. Chen Zhi’s network is alleged to have combined forced labor, deception, and cross-border fraud to build an empire.
U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi and Deputy Todd Blanche described the action against Chen Zhi as “one of the most significant strikes” against human trafficking and cyber-enabled financial crime. The dismantling of his network is meant to send a signal: the U.S. will use “every tool at its disposal” to protect victims, recover stolen assets, and hold perpetrators accountable.
U.S. enforcement and the Brooklyn link
Investigations were led by the FBI’s New York Joint Asian Criminal Enterprise Task Force, assisted by its Virtual Asset Unit. In New York, a network in Brooklyn was allegedly uncovered, facilitating the laundering of millions from more than 250 victims across the U.S. and beyond. Authorities arrested 11 people, charging them with wire fraud, bank fraud, money laundering, identity theft, passport fraud, and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business.
FBI Director Kash Patel called this one of the largest frauds ever dismantled by the agency, saying Chen Zhi’s network reached across multiple continents, including the U.S.
According to The Chosun Daily, five South Korean bank subsidiaries operating in Cambodia, KB Prasac Bank, PPC Bank, Woori Bank Cambodia, Shinhan Bank Cambodia, and DGB Bank Cambodia have frozen a total of 91.2 billion Korean won (approximately $64 million) in term deposits belonging to the Prince Holding Group. The action follows recent sanctions imposed by the United States and the United Kingdom against the Cambodian conglomerate, its founder Chen Zhi, and 144 related entities, which were accused of running transnational scam and money laundering operations. Data shared in Korea’s National Assembly revealed that the banks had previously conducted 52 transactions with Prince Group totaling 197 billion won ($138 million). Among the affected institutions, Kookmin Bank holds the largest portion of frozen funds at 56.7 billion won, followed by Jeonbuk Bank with 26.9 billion won, Woori Bank with 7 billion won, and Shinhan Bank with 645 million won.
The freezing of these deposits stems from growing concerns over links between Prince Group and the alleged criminal syndicate known as “Wench,” accused of kidnapping and exploiting foreigners in Cambodia for cyber fraud and voice phishing operations. Analysts suggest the frozen deposits may represent proceeds of criminal activity. Prince Group’s founder, Chen Zhi, a Chinese-born Cambodian national, faces global scrutiny as U.S. authorities pursue civil forfeiture of 127,271 Bitcoin valued at roughly $15 billion believed to be linked to the group’s illicit operations. The U.S. Department of Justice described this as the largest forfeiture action in its history. South Korean lawmakers have urged financial regulators to coordinate with Cambodian authorities to prevent their banking systems from being exploited by transnational criminal enterprises.
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