U.S. and UK authorities have seized over $14 billion in bitcoin linked to a vast cryptocurrency fraud allegedly led by Chen Zhi, founder of Cambodia’s Prince Group. This is the largest bitcoin confiscation to date and a major step in combating international cybercrime.
Chen, a UK and Cambodian national, faces charges in New York for wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering. His assets, including 19 London properties worth nearly £100 million, have been frozen by joint U.S.-UK sanctions.
Chen is accused of running a sprawling cyber-fraud network from Cambodia, where at least ten scam compounds operated. Victims were deceived into transferring cryptocurrency under false promises of investment profits. Trafficked workers were forced to run scams from these compounds, using thousands of mobile phones and fake social media profiles.
John A. Eisenberg of the U.S. Department of Justice called the Prince Group “a criminal enterprise built on human suffering.” The group allegedly spent illegal proceeds on luxury items, including private jets and a Picasso painting.
In the UK, Chen’s network owns high-value real estate acquired via companies in the British Virgin Islands. Sanctions now bar Chen from accessing the UK financial system.
“Together with our US allies, we are taking decisive action to combat the growing transnational threat posed by this network – upholding human rights, protecting British nationals and keeping dirty money off our streets,” UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said.
Four companies linked to the scam—including The Prince Group and Jin Bei Group—have been sanctioned. Amnesty International reported forced labour and torture at some of these scam centres in Cambodia.
Scams operate on an “industrial scale,” including in the UK, using methods such as fake romantic relationships to defraud victims, according to the UK Foreign Office.
“Fraudsters prey on the most vulnerable by stealing life savings, ruining trust, and devastating lives. We will not tolerate this,” Fraud Minister Lord Hanson added.