U.S. authorities have launched sanctions against global company Prince Group as the operator of fraudulent global forced labor operations – including infamous pig butchery schemes – based in Cambodia, charging the company’s executive and imposing sanctions.
Chen Zhi, a British and Cambodian national and founder and chairman of the Prince Group, was indicted Tuesday in New York for alleged conspiracy to commit money laundering and wire fraud on the committee, according to the Justice Department. In this case, the DOJ made what it called its largest crypto seizure ever, 127,271 bitcoins. worth approximately $14.4 billion in today’s value.
“Today’s action represents one of the most significant strikes ever against the global scourge of human trafficking and cyber-enabled financial fraud,” U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement.
And in a coordinated effort, the U.S. Treasury Department said it sanctioned the Prince Group on Tuesday, designating it a transnational criminal organization and blocking its financial activity and the ability of people to do business with it without U.S. repercussions.
According to a DOJ statement, the defendant and his leaders secretly “built the Prince Group into one of the largest transnational criminal organizations in Asia.” One of the biggest moneymakers, according to U.S. authorities, is so-called “pig butchery,” in which people — mostly in the United States — are scammed for crypto assets that they often believe are intended for distant romantic partners. “Prince Group carried out these schemes by trafficking hundreds of workers and forcing them to work at compounds in Cambodia and carry out scams, often under threat of violence,” the statement said, describing the barbed wire complexes, political influence and sophisticated cryptocurrency laundering efforts.
The CEO, who is at large, and those accused as co-conspirators allegedly used the profits to live a lavish lifestyle, including in one case the purchase of a Picasso painting.
The same day, the Treasury finalized a rule to completely separate Cambodian conglomerate Huione Group from the U.S. financial system – the most powerful action in the U.S. international financial arsenal. He said Phnom Penh-based Huione had laundered the proceeds of crypto scams.
“The rapid increase in transnational fraud has cost American citizens billions of dollars, and their savings wiped out in minutes,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.
The Treasury Department has continued to surround Cambodian criminal enterprises, targeting individuals suspected of being involved in the wide range of illicit activities that exist in that country. These crypto-funded operations have long been a focus of digital asset analytics firms, investigators, and even congressional inquiries.
Although the system has not yet been implemented in the United States, the Treasury Department is trying to implement President Donald Trump’s order to create a bitcoin reserve. This “strategic” reserve is believed to be the destination for any bitcoin seized by the US government, suggesting a potential final stop for the billions in assets seized in this case.
Read more: US government begins separating Huione Group from Cambodia’s financial system
