$150M asset freeze, $14.4B Bitcoin trail – Inside Chen Zhi’s crypto scandal

Key Takeaways

Why is Chen Zhi under investigation?

U.S. prosecutors allege his company, Prince Holding Group, ran large-scale “pig butchering” crypto scams by luring workers to Cambodia and forcing them to target victims online.

How were the funds moved?

The proceeds were laundered through more than 100 shell companies and crypto mining operations, eventually converted to Bitcoin to obscure the trail.

In a surprising turn of events, Singapore has moved to freeze more than $150 million (around $106 million) in assets linked to Chen Zhi, the Chinese-born chairman of Cambodia’s Prince Holding Group.

The move comes as part of a widening international crackdown on what authorities describe as a large-scale transnational fraud network.

Details of the enforcement operation

The enforcement operation took place on the 30th of October and was officially reported by the Singaporean police the following day.

Authorities targeted six properties, along with bank and securities accounts, cash reserves, a yacht, 11 vehicles, and high-end alcohol, all linked to Chen and his associates, who are currently outside Singapore.

This action came shortly after U.S. and UK authorities jointly announced criminal indictments against Chen in mid-October. They also launched efforts to seize approximately $14.4 billion in Bitcoin [BTC] tied to the alleged scheme.

Chen founded Prince Holding Group in 2015, promoting it as a global investment conglomerate with interests in real estate, finance, and hospitality.

However, U.S. prosecutors allege that the group operated as a large-scale criminal network. According to their claims, workers were lured to Cambodia with fake job offers and then forced to run “pig butchering” crypto fraud schemes within heavily guarded compounds.

Who all were involved?

Court documents revealed that Chen’s network laundered the proceeds through more than 100 shell companies, crypto exchanges, and mining operations.

The network then converted the funds into Bitcoin to obscure their origin.

From May 2021 to August 2022, the group has funneled at least $18 million from over 250 U.S. victims through shell entities in Brooklyn and Queens.

This amount represents only a small fraction of the larger financial flow tied to the scheme.

In October, the U.S. Treasury’s OFAC sanctioned 146 individuals and entities linked to the Prince Group.

Meanwhile, FinCEN reported that Cambodia’s Huione Group laundered more than $4 billion.

The U.K. also issued parallel sanctions against Chen and his affiliates.

Blockchain activity that drew major attention

Meanwhile, blockchain activity linked to the case grabbed close attention.

Just one day after U.S. indictments against Chen were unsealed, a wallet linked to the Chinese mining pool LuBian, previously associated with Chen, moved 11,886 BTC (approximately $1.3 billion). This was the wallet’s first activity in three years.

A week later, another 15,959 BTC (around $1.83 billion) was transferred across four separate addresses. These movements raised concerns about potential asset repositioning ahead of enforcement actions.

LuBian had gained prominence in 2020 but suffered a major breach that drained over 90% of its holdings, an estimated 127,426 BTC, now valued at roughly $14.5 billion.

The mining pool disappeared in early 2021, and its funds remained largely dormant until they resurfaced in mid-2024.

What’s ahead?

Prosecutors now allege that Chen used mining operations like LuBian and Warp Data in Laos to generate “clean” Bitcoin.

They say the network deliberately separated this Bitcoin from the original criminal proceeds to obscure its source.

If the United States Department of Justice wins the forfeiture case, the seized Bitcoin will become one of the largest additions to U.S. federal holdings.

This coincided with T3’s first-year results, highlighting both the growing sophistication of crypto-related crime and the widening role of private companies in combating it.

Therefore, as digital crime expands, the balance between security and the core ethos of crypto is becoming more difficult to maintain.