U.S. Seizes $14B in Bitcoin Linked to Cambodia’s Prince Group Crackdown
US Prosecutors go after Cambodia's Prince Group in massive takedown , claiming the conglomerate is involved in one of the biggest...
Quick overview
- US prosecutors are targeting Cambodia's Prince Group, alleging involvement in a massive financial scandal linked to over $14 billion in Bitcoin.
- Chen Zhi, the group's leader, is accused of orchestrating a transnational scam involving crypto fraud, human trafficking, and money laundering.
- Internal documents reveal the existence of 'scam compounds' in Cambodia where trafficked workers were forced to run fake investment scams.
- The operation utilized sophisticated cryptocurrency-washing techniques to obscure their illicit gains, leading to the seizure of 127,271 Bitcoin by authorities.
US Prosecutors go after Cambodia’s Prince Group in massive takedown , claiming the conglomerate is involved in one of the biggest financial scandals in history. They’ve pinched over $14bn in Bitcoin – a haul that will do the justice system a big favour.
The Prince Group, run by Chinese-Cambodian tycoon Chen Zhi, had been masquerading as a respectable international company, with fingers in all sorts of pies including property, finance and consumer services. But, according to the Department of Justice, it was all a ruse to hide a massive operation that was exploiting thousands of people worldwide through various means including – crypto scams, human trafficking, and money washing.
At the helm of the whole operation was Chen. This dual citizen of Cambodia and the UK is accused of running a massive transnational scam using all sorts of dodgy tactics like shell companies and phony operations scattered all over Southeast Asia.
Internal documents show that Chen oversaw at least ten ‘scam compounds’ – basically like prisons – in Cambodia, where poor souls were forced to run fake investment scams out of.
US GOVERNMENT SEIZES OVER $14B IN BITCOIN, CHARGES CHEN ZHI OF PRINCE GROUP IN MASSIVE CRYPTO SCAM, OPERATIONS LINKED TO FRAUD, MONEY LAUNDERING, AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING. CRACKDOWN MARKED AS ONE OF HISTORIC DIMENSIONS.
— Multibagg AI (Global) (@MultibaggAIHQ) October 15, 2025
Scam Compounds and the “Big Scam” Business
Cambodia along with a few other countries in South East Asia has become a hot bed for scam artists. DOJ officials revealed some pretty gruesome details:
- Trafficked workers were being held in these compounds like prisoners – forced to pump out fake investment scams to anyone who’d bite, all over the globe.
- Two of the ‘phone farms’ – basically giant operation rooms with thousands of mobile phones – were discovered to have over 76,000 social media accounts under their control.
- Internal memos were found with tips on how to rip people off: build trust, pretend to be someone real and don’t go overboard with the selfies.
Assistant Attorney General John A Eisenberg said it was a huge operation that was scamming thousands of people – including lots of US residents – and just how organised it was is pretty terrifying.
The “Washing Machine” of Cryptocurrency
It seems Chen and his cohorts just didn’t want to be caught with their fingers in the till. They wanted to keep their ill-gotten gains clean, so they set up this elaborate system using some pretty sophisticated crypto-washing techniques, including:
BREAKING: US seizes $14B in Bitcoin, charges Cambodia's Prince Group with global crypto fraud and money laundering.
Biggest Bitcoin bust yet—crime didn’t pay this time.#CryptoCrime #Bitcoin #DOJ
— Bulls&BearsHQ (@Bulls_N_BearsHQ) October 15, 2025
- Spraying out the cash – spreading it all over the place to make it hard to track
- Funneling it – moving it around through loads of different accounts to make it look legit
- Using all sorts of dodgy crypto tools like mixers, brokers and offshore exchanges to cover their tracks
They got hoisted with their own petard, and the authorities seized 127,271 Bitcoin – and that’s just what they found. Chen’s in a spot of trouble – up to 40 years in prison if he gets caught, but as yet he’s one step ahead of the law.
The Prince Group has been given the ‘Transnational Criminal Organisation’ sticker and all its mates are under US sanctions now. This crackdown has echoes of a similar US sanction of another Cambodian scammer Ly Yong Phat last year – it looks like there’s a bit of a pattern going on out there.
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