The US government has seized more than US$14 billion in bitcoin and charged the founder of a Cambodian conglomerate in a massive cryptocurrency scam, accusing him and unnamed co-conspirators of exploiting forced labour to dupe would-be investors and using the proceeds to buy yachts, jets and a Picasso painting.
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In an indictment unsealed on Tuesday, Brooklyn federal prosecutors charged Prince Holding Group chairman Chen Zhi with wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy. At the same time, US and British authorities imposed sanctions on Chen’s company, which is involved in real estate development and financial services, and the Treasury Department declared it a transnational criminal organisation.
Chen, 38, is accused of sanctioning violence against workers, authorising bribes to foreign officials and using his other businesses, such as online gambling and cryptocurrency mining, to launder illicit profits.
Chen was the “mastermind behind a sprawling cyber fraud empire”, Assistant Attorney General John Eisenberg said. US Attorney Joseph Nocella called it “one of the largest investment fraud operations in history”.
At one point, prosecutors said, Chen bragged that the so-called pig butchering scam was pulling in US$30 million a day.
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Last year, Americans lost at least US$10 billion to Southeast Asia-based scams, a 66 per cent increase from 2023, the Treasury Department said, calling Prince Holding Group a “dominant player” in that space. Chinese authorities have been investigating the company for cyber scams and money laundering since as early as 2020, according to court records reviewed by the US Institute of Peace.