Prince Group: the $15 billion forfeiture and the Cambodian compounds
In October 2025 US prosecutors in Brooklyn unsealed an indictment charging Chen Zhi, founder and chairman of the Cambodian conglomerate Prince Holding Group, with running forced-labour scam compounds whose trafficked workers ran cryptocurrency investment fraud against victims worldwide. The government moved to forfeit roughly 127,271 bitcoin, about $15 billion, the largest forfeiture action in the history of the Justice Department. The US Treasury designated Prince Group as a transnational criminal organisation the same day, coordinated with sanctions from the United Kingdom. On 6 January 2026 Cambodia arrested Chen Zhi and sent him to China, so he is not in US custody; the US forfeiture case was still being contested in court as of March 2026.
- Year
- 2026
- Where
- Cambodia, United States, United Kingdom
- Outcome
- Ongoing
- Victims
- Not stated in the sources
- Schemes
- Pig butchering, Fake investment platforms, Romance scams
- Last reviewed
- 2026-10-10
The facts, as recorded
- Indictment unsealed 14 October 2025 in the Eastern District of New York; Chen Zhi, 37, a Cambodian national, was charged with wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy and was at large when the indictment was unsealed.
- The forfeiture action covers approximately 127,271 bitcoin held in unhosted wallets, valued at roughly $15 billion, the largest in Justice Department history.
- Prosecutors described Prince Holding Group as spanning dozens of business entities in more than 30 countries.
- Workers in the compounds were described as confined in prison-like conditions and forced to run scams, often under threat of violence.
- One associated Brooklyn network was described as facilitating fraud against more than 250 victims in New York and elsewhere in the United States.
- The Treasury Department designated Prince Group as a transnational criminal organisation; the United Kingdom announced sanctions the same day.
- On 6 January 2026 Cambodia's interior ministry said Chen Zhi had been arrested with two other people, his Cambodian citizenship revoked, and that he had been extradited to China.
- China's state news agency Xinhua reported on 8 January 2026 that Chen Zhi and his group were suspected of crimes including running fraud operations and concealing the proceeds.
- Prince Group has said the US and UK allegations are baseless.
- As of 24 March 2026 the forfeiture case over the bitcoin was continuing in federal court in Brooklyn, with claims filed by other parties, including a mining platform and victims of terrorist attacks, and a March 2026 motion to dismiss filed by lawyers for Chen Zhi; the court had announced no final decision.
An indictment is an allegation. Chen Zhi has not been convicted of these charges, and is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Why this case matters
Most scam prosecutions reach the people at the keyboard, or the mules whose bank accounts the money crossed. This one was aimed at the corporate structure above them. The allegation is not that a conglomerate was infiltrated by fraudsters, but that the conglomerate was the vehicle: dozens of entities across more than thirty countries, sitting on top of compounds where the actual scamming was done by people who could not leave.
The forfeiture figure is what makes the case unusual even among large cases. Roughly 127,271 bitcoin is not a sum that accumulates from one scheme or one year; it is the visible residue of an industrial operation, and the fact that it sat in unhosted wallets is exactly why prosecutors could move on it at all, the coins had never been handed to a custodian who could be subpoenaed, but they had also never been converted into anything harder to seize.
The same-day designation of Prince Group by the US Treasury, matched by the United Kingdom, is the other half of the strategy. A criminal charge against a person who is not in custody does relatively little on its own. Sanctions attach to the network: they make the banks, property holdings and corporate vehicles radioactive to anyone who wants to keep access to the dollar or sterling systems.
What it tells you about the scheme
The compounds in this case are the supply side of what victims experience as a friendly stranger with an investment tip. The person messaging a target about a trading platform is very often not the beneficiary of the fraud and frequently not there voluntarily. That does not make the loss any smaller for the person on the other end, but it explains why the scripts are so consistent, why the platforms look so polished, and why blocking one account changes nothing, the operation is staffed, managed and resourced like a business, because it is one.
The caveat
Nothing in the US case has been proven. Chen Zhi is charged in an indictment, which is an allegation, and the forfeiture claim is contested in court. What has happened since is an arrest and transfer, not a verdict: Cambodia arrested him on 6 January 2026 and sent him to China, where Chinese state media says he is suspected of crimes including fraud and concealing proceeds. Prince Group denies the US and UK allegations. He is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law. As of 10 October 2026 no later outcome was found in the sources reviewed.
People named in the public record
- Chen Zhi · charged
Sources
- Chairman of Prince Group Indicted for Operating Cambodian Forced Labor Scam Compounds Engaged in Cryptocurrency Fraud Schemes. US Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs. Accessed 2026-09-06. Supports: Charges, defendant details, forfeiture amount, compound conditions, Treasury and UK designations.
- U.S. and U.K. Take Largest Action Ever Targeting Cybercriminal Networks in Southeast Asia. US Department of the Treasury. Accessed 2026-09-06. Supports: Coordinated US–UK sanctions against the Prince Group network.
- Cambodia Extradites Chair of Alleged 'Criminal' Conglomerate to China. Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project. Accessed 2026-10-10. Supports: The 6 January 2026 arrest in Cambodia, the revoked citizenship, the extradition to China, the Xinhua report and Prince Group's denial.
- US's mysterious $15bn crypto haul faces questions in court. Moneyweb. Accessed 2026-10-10. Supports: The status of the Brooklyn forfeiture case as of 24 March 2026, the claimants and the March 2026 motion to dismiss.