The US government just made its biggest Bitcoin grab ever, and the story behind it reads like a Netflix thriller with real victims.
On October 14, OFAC sanctioned 146 targets linked to Cambodia’s Prince Group, a conglomerate the US designated as a transnational criminal organization. Simultaneously, the Department of Justice indicted the group’s alleged leader, 37-year-old Cambodian national Chen Zhi (also known as Vincent), on wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy charges. The DOJ also filed a civil forfeiture action for 127,271 BTC, valued between $14 billion and $15 billion at the time, making it the largest cryptocurrency seizure in the department’s history.
Inside the scam compounds
Prince Group allegedly operated at least ten scam compounds across Cambodia dedicated to what law enforcement calls “pig butchering” schemes. In English: fraudsters build fake romantic or investment relationships with victims over weeks or months, fatten their trust, then convince them to pour money into fraudulent crypto platforms.
According to the DOJ, many of the workers inside these compounds were trafficking victims, enslaved and forced to carry out the fraud operations. Prince Group allegedly laundered the money through an extensive web of shell companies spread across Asia. The sanctions were issued under Executive Order 13581, which targets transnational criminal organizations and their support networks. The UK coordinated its own enforcement actions alongside the US operation.
