(NewsNation) — The Department of Justice says it has seized the most money it’s ever recovered in one action in targeting the founder of a Cambodian conglomerate accused in a massive cryptocurrency scam.
The department says it took about $15 billion worth of bitcoin from an operation run by Chen Zhi, 37, according to an indictment unsealed Tuesday.
Zhi, a native of China who is also known as “Vincent,” runs the Prince Holding Group, based in Cambodia, according to the DOJ, which alleges that the company operated in 30 countries as a real estate and financial company in the light and a crime syndicate in the dark.
Prince Group allegedly forced an untold number of employees to contact unwitting victims electronically with promises to grow their net worth if they handed over bitcoin in what the DOJ called “cryptocurrency investment fraud schemes, known as ‘pig butchering’ scams.”
The victims allegedly never received payments, and the Justice Department said that the money was then laundered. It recovered 127,271 bitcoin, according to the announcement.
“By dismantling a criminal empire built on forced labor and deception, we are sending a clear message that the United States will use every tool at its disposal to defend victims, recover stolen assets, and bring to justice those who exploit the vulnerable for profit,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement.
Zhi is accused of sanctioning violence against workers, authorizing bribes to foreign officials and using his other businesses, such as online gambling and cryptocurrency mining, to launder illicit profits.
He’s charged with wire fraud and money laundering and faces 40 years behind bars. He remained at large as of Tuesday, prosecutors said.
The Justice Department estimates there were at least 250 American victims. In addition, the department said the U.S. and U.K. have levied sanctions on Prince Group.
Cambodia’s Interior Ministry spokesman Touch Sokhak said Prince Holding Group has met all legal requirements to operate in Cambodia and has been treated no differently than other major companies investing in the country. He also said the Cambodian citizenship given to China native Chen was in accordance with the law.
Touch Sokhak said Cambodia will cooperate if there is a formal request backed by evidence. “We do not protect individuals who violate the law,” he said, but stressed that Cambodia’s government itself does not accuse Prince Holding Group or Chen Zhi of wrongdoing.
“I don’t have much to say about the American and British authorities’ seeking to arrest him, but first, we just hope that there will be arguments and sufficient proof to put against him,” Touch Sokhak told The Associated Press.
What is pig butchering?
“Pig butchering” is a scam in which someone is contacted electronically and asked to turn over money, usually cryptocurrency, with the promise of being repaid in full or more. Sometimes the scammers say the money will be used for an urgent need, such as life-saving surgery.
The victims are called “pigs” because scammers will “fatten them up” with emotional pleas and even allow what appears to be a genuine bond to form before asking for money.
Sometimes they will ask for and receive money from the same victim multiple times.
It’s prevalent in the online dating world. In previous reporting, a Philadelphia woman named Shreya Datta told Nexstar’s NewsNation she lost $500,000 to someone she conversed with on the dating app Hinge.
“I thought it was definitely the beginnings of a very deep romantic connection,” Datta explained. “Now, you have to understand that the scammers are very sophisticated. I wasn’t scammed by a person. I was scammed by an organization. So they have the perfect script to psychologically kind of hack you and they have the technology to make it seem very believable.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Bobby Oler
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