CaliToday (15/10/2025): In a case of staggering scale, Chen Zhi, the 38-year-old chairman of Cambodia's Prince Holding Group, was indicted by a Brooklyn federal court on Tuesday, October 14th, on charges of conspiracy, fraud, and money laundering. U.S. authorities have described his operation as a "transnational criminal organization" and announced the seizure of over $14 billion in Bitcoin connected to the scheme, marking one of the largest investment fraud cases in history.
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| Photo: Chen Zhi, the 38-year-old chairman of Cambodia's Prince Holding Group |
The sweeping indictment accuses Chen and his co-conspirators of orchestrating a massive cryptocurrency scam that leveraged forced labor to defraud investors worldwide. The illicitly gained funds were allegedly used to finance an opulent lifestyle, including the purchase of yachts, private jets, and even Picasso paintings.
At the heart of the prosecution's case are harrowing allegations of modern-day slavery. The U.S. Treasury Department stated that Chen's organization operated at least ten "forced labor camps" across Cambodia. Within these barbed-wire compounds, thousands of migrant workers were allegedly held captive and coerced into creating fake online personas. Their task was to lure unsuspecting victims on social media and investment platforms, convincing them to transfer their cryptocurrency into fraudulent schemes.
The conditions within these camps were described as brutal. According to the indictment, workers who failed to meet quotas or resisted were subjected to severe physical violence, including beatings and torture "to the brink of death."
"This case exposes a sinister convergence of high-tech financial fraud and barbaric human exploitation," said a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Justice. "The defendants allegedly built a multi-billion dollar empire on the suffering of thousands, while simultaneously deceiving investors on a global scale."
The financial aspect of the operation was equally sophisticated. Prosecutors allege that Chen used a network of online gambling businesses and cryptocurrency mining operations as fronts to launder the vast proceeds from the investment scams, effectively washing the tainted money and integrating it into the legitimate financial system. The U.S. Treasury Department's designation of the group as a "transnational criminal organization" places it in the same category as notorious drug cartels and mafias, signaling the severity of the threat it posed.
Chen Zhi, who is also known by the alias "Vincent," is currently a fugitive. If apprehended and convicted, he faces a potential sentence of up to 40 years in prison.
In a significant move to provide restitution for the scheme's victims, U.S. authorities have successfully seized 127,271 Bitcoin. This massive cache, valued at over $14 billion, is slated to be used for victim compensation, pending a final court ruling. This represents a landmark effort to recover and return assets to those defrauded in a cryptocurrency-based crime.
