US search: Prinzen group suspected of billion-dollar Bitcoin fraud!
U.S. Investigates Cambodia's Prince Group for Bitcoin Fraud; $14 billion confiscated. Chen Zhi in court.

US search: Prinzen group suspected of billion-dollar Bitcoin fraud!
U.S. Prosecutors have launched an investigation against the Cambodian Prince Group and its chairman Chen Zhi. According to available information, charges of wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy have been filed. As part of this investigation, over $14 billion in Bitcoin was seized, linked to a large-scale crypto fraud scheme allegedly operated by the Prince Group. The allegations include the exploitation of people forced into illegal work.
The Prince Group is a wide-ranging conglomerate active in real estate development, finance and consumer services. Hammere Chen Zhi, a dual citizen of Cambodia and the United Kingdom, leads the group's operations. According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the group masked a criminal empire behind a façade of legitimacy. If convicted, Chen could spend up to 40 years in prison.
The machinations of the Prince Group
Chen Zhi is accused of organizing a transnational anti-fraud network that defrauded investors of their money and engaged in money laundering through shell companies and fraudulent activities throughout Southeast Asia. In particular, it emerged that the group operated at least ten fraud schemes in Cambodia where people suffering from human trafficking were forced to carry out online scams that targeted global victims.
Cambodia is known to be home to fraud schemes, with similar operations also found in Myanmar, Laos, the Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam. The captured workers were reportedly held at the investment complexes and forced to take part in a large-scale online fraud. Chen's fraud operations included "phone farms" that used thousands of cell phone numbers to contact her victims. Two exposed farms were identified that had 1,250 cell phones, which in total controlled about 76,000 social media accounts for scams.
Financing criminal activities
Prince Group documents revealed strategies for building trust with victims, including using realistic social media personas. Chen and his accomplices allegedly financed a lavish lifestyle that included private jets, luxury real estate and rare works of art, and hid the source of their wealth. The money laundering techniques used included methods such as “spraying” (dispersal of stolen assets) and “funneling” (concentration of funds through intermediaries).
Investigators believe the group used cryptocurrency mixers, OTC brokers and offshore exchanges to launder the proceeds of the scam. There are currently around 127,271 Bitcoin from Chen's wallets under U.S. Jurisdiction. Chen himself is currently on the run and international efforts are underway to locate him. The Prince Group has been designated a transnational criminal organization and individuals associated with it have been sanctioned in the United States. Last year, a separate Cambodian business empire led by Ly Yong Phat was sanctioned for similar crypto fraud operations.