Tokyo police arrested Hu Xiaowei, a 44-year-old Cypriot national of Chinese descent, on June 22 for allegedly submitting false residency documents in Tokyo’s Chuo Ward. The charge itself, a fraudulent move-in notification, sounds almost quaint. The backstory is anything but.
Hu is a senior figure tied to the Prince Group, an organization accused of running one of the most sprawling crypto fraud operations in history. US authorities seized approximately 127,271 Bitcoin, valued at around $15 billion at the time, in October 2025 in connection with the group’s activities. That seizure ranks among the largest financial forfeitures the Department of Justice has ever executed.
A residency filing hides a much bigger story
The immediate arrest charges center on Hu allegedly falsifying a move-in notification to support an application for permanent residency in Japan. Two associates were detained alongside him on the same charges.
Hu, who also goes by aliases including Chen Xiao’er and Wu An Ming, has been sanctioned by both the US and UK governments for his ties to the Prince Group. Properties and entities linked to him span multiple jurisdictions, with UK authorities alone freezing assets worth over $44 million connected to his name.
