The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Tuesday it has indicted the alleged orchestrator of a Cambodia-based cryptocurrency fraud scheme.
The indictment, filed Oct. 8 and unsealed Tuesday in the Eastern District of New York, alleges that Chen Zhi, who also goes by Vincent, operated forced-labor compounds in Cambodia that conducted crypto investment fraud schemes — which resulted in billions in losses for victims in the U.S. and around the world — via his company, Prince Holding Group.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District and the DOJ’s National Security Division also filed a civil forfeiture complaint against 127,271 Bitcoin — worth roughly $15 billion. In a release, the DOJ called the filing the largest forfeiture action in the department’s history.
Prince Holding Group, according to its website, focuses on real estate development, financial services and consumer services in more than 30 countries. The Hill’s request for comment to the company bounced back.
Zhi, whose whereabouts are unknown, is charged with wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy. The DOJ release noted that if convicted, he faces up to 40 years in prison.
In the release, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche called the indictment “one of the most significant strikes ever against the global scourge of human trafficking and cyber-enabled financial fraud.”
“By dismantling a criminal empire built on forced labor and deception, we are sending a clear message that the United States will use every tool at its disposal to defend victims, recover stolen assets, and bring to justice those who exploit the vulnerable for profit,” they added.
The indictment alleges that Prince Holding Group conducted the schemes by trafficking laborers and forcing them to work in compounds across Cambodia, often under the threat of violence. While there, the laborers contacted individuals through messaging or social media applications and persuaded them to transfer cryptocurrency to specific accounts by promising the funds would be invested, a scam tactic known as “pig butchering.”
Instead, the funds were laundered for the benefit of Zhi and seven unnamed co-conspirators. The victims spanned the globe, with local networks assisting Zhi and his co-conspirators.
One network, located in Brooklyn, N.Y., laundered more than $18 million transferred from more than 250 victims in New York and across the country between May 2021 and August 2022. In October 2022, law enforcement arrested 11 people in connection with the scheme.
To conceal their crimes, Zhi and Prince Holding Group associates allegedly separated the cryptocurrency profits across virtual currency addresses, then reconsolidated into fewer addresses, techniques known as “spraying” and “funneling.” They also allegedly bribed foreign officials to avoid being investigated.
The FBI New York Joint Asian Criminal Enterprise Task Force and the bureau’s Virtual Asset Unit are investigating the case.
Also Tuesday, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, along with the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, announced sanctions on 146 targets within Prince Holding Group.
“The rapid rise of transnational fraud has cost American citizens billions of dollars, with life savings wiped out in minutes,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in the department’s release. “Treasury is taking action to protect Americans by cracking down on foreign scammers.”
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