Chen Zhi, the founder and chairman of a multinational business conglomerate based in Cambodia called Prince Group, has been charged by the US Department of Justice with wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy. Chen is currently at large and, if convicted, faces up to 40 years in prison. According to US officials, Chen held people against their will in compounds across Cambodia, using them to contact victims through messaging or social media apps and convince them to transfer crypto to specified accounts based on false promises that the funds would be invested and generate profits. In reality, says the DoJ, the funds were stolen and laundered. Some 127,271 Bitcoin, currently worth approximately $15 billion, that were previously stored in unhosted cryptocurrency wallets whose private keys the defendant held, are now in the US government’s possession. Meanwhile, the UK, where Chen is also a national, has frozen assets owned by his network, including 19 properties in London, including one worth more than $130 million. Prince Group - which operates dozens of business entities in more than 30 countries in areas such as real estate and financial services - carried out its scams by trafficking hundreds of workers and forcing them to work in compounds in Cambodia, often under the threat of violence. The compounds housed vast dormitories surrounded by high walls and barbed wire, and functioned as violent forced labour camps, says the DoJ. Chen was directly involved and "communicated directly with his subordinates about beating individuals who ’caused trouble,’ in one case specifying that the victims should not be ’beaten to death,’" according to a statement.

“Today’s action represents one of the most significant strikes ever against the global scourge of human trafficking and cyber-enabled financial fraud,” say Attorney General Pamela Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.