World Desk

The United States has seized more than $14 billion worth of bitcoin and charged Cambodian businessman Chen Zhi, chairman of Prince Holding Group, in one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency fraud cases.

Prosecutors accused Chen and his associates of operating a massive “pig butchering” scam that exploited forced labor, defrauded investors, and laundered billions of dollars through luxury purchases — including yachts, private jets, and even a Picasso painting.

According to an indictment unsealed Tuesday in a Brooklyn federal court, Chen, 38, faces charges of wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy. The U.S. Treasury Department declared Prince Holding Group a transnational criminal organization, while U.S. and U.K. authorities imposed sanctions on the conglomerate, which has interests in real estate and finance.

Officials said Chen oversaw a vast cyberfraud empire, authorizing bribes, violence, and forced labor to sustain the operation. He allegedly boasted that his scam network generated up to $30 million daily.

U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella described the case as “one of the largest investment fraud operations in history.” If convicted, Chen faces up to 40 years in prison. He remains at large.

Authorities said the U.S. could use the seized 127,271 bitcoins — currently worth about $113,000 each — to compensate victims.

Investigators revealed that Prince Holding Group built at least 10 compounds in Cambodia where trafficked workers were forced to run online scams targeting victims worldwide. The compounds, some linked to casinos and hotels, were heavily guarded and equipped with call centers controlling thousands of fake social media accounts.

Prosecutors said workers were beaten, held captive, and forced to lure victims into fake investment schemes. Some victims lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in cryptocurrency. Photos included in the indictment showed severely injured workers.

The U.S. Treasury Department said Chen personally approved at least one beating but warned that the victim should not be “beaten to death.” Witnesses said escapees from one compound were “beaten until they are barely alive.”

Chen, also known as “Vincent,” is a Chinese-born tycoon who holds the Cambodian royal honorific title “neak oknha” and has served as an adviser to Prime Minister Hun Manet and former leader Hun Sen.

Experts said the case exposes deep links between Cambodia’s ruling elite and global scam networks. “These actions won’t end the scam economy overnight,” said Jacob Daniel Sims, a transnational crime expert at Harvard University, “but they send a clear signal that elite crime as a governing strategy carries growing international risks.”

In 2023, the UN estimated that about 100,000 people were being forced to work in online scam operations in Cambodia, alongside tens of thousands more across Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and the Philippines.

Source: AP