Authorities had been searching for him for months.
Now, one of Asia’s most notorious alleged crypto crime figures has surfaced in custody.
Chen Zhi, the chair of Cambodia-based Prince Group, has been arrested in Cambodia and deported to China, bringing fresh momentum to one of the largest transnational fraud investigations linked to cryptocurrency and forced labour scams.
A Fugitive Tycoon Finally Tracked Down
Chen, a 38-year-old businessman originally from China’s Fujian province, was detained on 6 January following months of joint investigations by Cambodian and Chinese authorities.
Cambodia’s Interior Ministry confirmed that Chen was arrested alongside Xu Ji Liang and Shao Ji Hui, with all three deported to China at Beijing’s request.
The ministry also said Chen’s Cambodian citizenship was revoked in December 2025, clearing the way for his removal.
For months, Chen’s whereabouts had remained unclear after sweeping sanctions and criminal accusations were announced by Western authorities last October.
Prince Group Under Global Scrutiny
Chen has led Prince Group since around 2015, building it into a sprawling multinational with interests in real estate, financial services and consumer businesses across more than 30 countries.
Publicly, the group presented itself as a major regional investor.
Privately, US prosecutors allege it operated as one of Asia’s largest transnational criminal organisations, using a web of more than 100 shell and holding companies to move and hide illicit funds worldwide.
According to the US Treasury, proceeds from scams were laundered through this network on an industrial scale.
The Biggest Bitcoin Seizure On Record
The crackdown escalated sharply on 14 October 2025.
US authorities, including the Department of Justice and the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, filed a civil forfeiture complaint targeting 127,271 Bitcoin allegedly linked to Chen.
The haul was valued at about US$15 billion at the time, described by US prosecutors as the largest-ever seizure of Bitcoin.
On the same day, the US and the UK designated Prince Group as a Transnational Criminal Organisation.
OFAC later added 25 crypto wallet addresses linked to Chen, holding around US$780 million in Bitcoin, to its sanctions list.
Altogether, 146 individuals and entities were sanctioned.
Raids And Asset Freezes Spread Worldwide
The impact was immediate and global.
In Singapore, police raids on 30 October 2025 led to the seizure of more than S$150 million in assets, including six properties, a yacht and 11 luxury vehicles.
Taipei authorities detained 25 people days later, freezing NT$4.5 billion in assets tied to the group.
Hong Kong followed by freezing HK$2.75 billion linked to the syndicate.
In the UK, nearly 19 London properties were seized, including one valued at close to £100 million.
Inside The Alleged Scam Compounds
At the centre of the case are allegations that Prince Group ran and oversaw dozens of forced labour scam compounds across Southeast Asia, particularly in Cambodia.
International investigators and human rights groups say victims were lured with promises of legitimate jobs in IT or administration, only to be imprisoned and forced to run online scams under threat of violence.
Many were compelled to carry out so-called pig butchering scams, where criminals build fake online relationships before pushing victims into fraudulent crypto or investment schemes, draining their savings.
The UN estimates that hundreds of thousands of people have been trafficked into such operations across the region.
Human Rights Groups Detail Abuse
An Amnesty International report published in June identified at least 53 scam compounds operating in Cambodia alone.
Survivors described slavery, human trafficking, child labour and torture being carried out by criminal gangs on a vast scale.
Many victims were held against their will and punished if they failed to meet scam targets.
In 2024, more than US$4 billion was stolen globally through pig butchering scams, up 40% from 2023, according to blockchain security firm Chainalysis.
Beijing’s Long Running Interest
Chinese authorities have been quietly investigating Prince Group since at least 2020.
The Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau previously described the group as “a major transnational online gambling syndicate based in Cambodia” in court filings.
Many of the scams are believed to have targeted victims inside China.
Chen And Prince Group Deny All Claims
Despite the scale of the allegations, Chen and Prince Group have consistently denied wrongdoing.
In a statement issued on 11 November 2025, the group said it “categorically rejects the notion that it or Chen Zhi engaged in any unlawful activity,” calling the accusations “baseless” and politically motivated to justify asset seizures.
Prince Group said it had engaged US law firm Boies Schiller Flexner and insisted that Chen and the company would be “fully exonerated” once the facts are reviewed.
A Turning Point For Regional Scam Networks
Chen’s arrest is widely seen as a serious setback for scam operations that have flourished across Southeast Asia for years, often in plain sight.
As journalist Jack Adamovic Davies told the BBC,
“I think it’s the sheer scale of his operations which really makes Chen Zhi stand out.”
With Chen now back in China, investigators across multiple jurisdictions are watching closely to see how far the case will reach, and whether more figures linked to the network will soon follow.