Cambodian casino group Prince Group has been accused of running vast online scam operations and human trafficking rings and has been hit with sweeping US and UK sanctions, in what officials described as the largest-ever joint action against cybercriminal networks in Southeast Asia.
The measures targeting Prince Group, a sprawling conglomerate led by Cambodian national Chen Zhi, allege the group used luxury hotels and casinos, including the Jin Bei Casino, to launder billions of dollars from online fraud, extortion, and forced labor.
The Department of Justice in Brooklyn unsealed an indictment charging Chen Zhi with wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy, while filing a civil forfeiture complaint for approximately 127,271 Bitcoin — currently worth around $15 billion — seized by US authorities. The Bitcoin represents proceeds of Chen’s global scam and money-laundering operations. Chen remains at large.
The US Treasury also cut off another Cambodian conglomerate, Huione Group, from the American financial system for allegedly facilitating money laundering tied to North Korean hackers and regional scam networks.
The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said the Prince Group Transnational Criminal Organization (Prince Group TCO) was responsible for running industrial-scale “pig butchering” scams — elaborate online investment frauds that have cost victims billions of dollars.
“The rapid rise of transnational fraud has cost American citizens billions of dollars, with life savings wiped out in minutes”, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in the statement, adding that the coordinated action with the United Kingdom aimed to protect victims and “crack down on foreign scammers.”
American victims lost more than $16.6 billion to online investment scams in recent years, US officials said, with networks based in Cambodia and neighboring countries driving much of the surge.
“The Prince Group TCO, described as a dominant player in Cambodia’s scam economy, allegedly controlled illicit financial flows worth billions of dollars through shell companies worldwide.”
The UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) imposed matching sanctions on Chen Zhi, Prince Holding Group, and associates, while US prosecutors in New York unsealed a criminal indictment against Chen.
Among the operations targeted is the Jin Bei Group, a luxury hotel and casino operator accused of extortion, forced labor, and murder. The compound’s staff allegedly lured workers with promises of tech and customer service jobs, only to detain them and force them to defraud victims online.
US authorities linked Jin Bei to the 2023 killing of a 25-year-old Chinese national, and to the loss of at least $18 million from US citizens in one FBI investigation. Despite attempts by Prince Group to distance itself from Jin Bei, Cambodian government records identify Chen Zhi as its chief executive.
The DOJ complaint details sophisticated cryptocurrency laundering techniques allegedly used by Chen Zhi and his co-conspirators, including “spraying” and “funneling” transactions across thousands of digital wallets to obscure the origin of stolen funds.
Some of the cryptocurrency was later converted into fiat currency, luxury assets, and high-end items including yachts, private jets, vacation homes, watches, and a Picasso painting purchased in New York.
‘As alleged, the defendant was the mastermind behind a sprawling cyber-fraud empire operating under the Prince Group umbrella,’ said Assistant Attorney General John Eisenberg in an announcement. ‘Trafficked workers were confined in prison-like compounds and forced to carry out online scams on an industrial scale, preying on thousands worldwide.’
Human trafficking and torture allegations
Officials said workers in Prince Group’s compounds were victims of human trafficking, subjected to beatings, extortion, and sexual abuse if they tried to escape. Victims were often forced to operate scam websites that preyed on people worldwide.
The Treasury named 117 affiliated businesses and multiple individuals linked to Prince Group, including top executives and financial aides accused of managing offshore assets and laundering proceeds through Prince Bank, Prince Real Estate, and other subsidiaries.
In a parallel move, the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) finalized a rule under the USA PATRIOT Act banning US financial institutions from dealing with Huione Group, a Cambodian conglomerate accused of laundering at least $4 billion in illicit proceeds since 2021 — including funds tied to North Korean cyber heists.
The rule effectively severs Huione from the US financial system, prohibiting banks from maintaining accounts or processing transactions linked to the group.
The Prince Group network also extended its reach to Palau, where it reportedly leased an island to develop a luxury resort with the help of a Chinese businesswoman, Rose Wang, previously linked to the notorious Macau gangster Wan Kuok Koi, also known as Broken Tooth.
“US officials said the Palau venture represented an effort by organized crime networks to expand into the Pacific, using resort and casino projects as fronts for money laundering.”
The Treasury described the designations as part of an expanding campaign against cyber fraud, following earlier actions this year targeting Burmese warlords, Philippine technology firms, and Cambodian scam facilitators.
Under the new sanctions, all assets of the named entities in the United States are frozen, and US citizens and companies are barred from conducting business with them.
‘Today’s coordinated actions demonstrate our determination to disrupt these violent criminal enterprises that prey on vulnerable people and undermine financial systems,’ commented the OFAC.
