Chen Zhi, chair of the Prince Group, has been arrested in Cambodia and deported to China amid accusations of orchestrating forced labour scam operations that stole billions in cryptocurrency. The arrest follows recent actions by US authorities seizing assets linked to him. This development is expected to disrupt large-scale pig butchering scams in Southeast Asia.
Chen Zhi, a 38-year-old former Chinese citizen who chairs the Prince Group conglomerate, was arrested in Cambodia and subsequently deported to China for investigation, according to a report from the Cambodia-China Times on Wednesday.
The Prince Group, which operates businesses in more than 30 countries focused on real estate and financial services, has been accused by US prosecutors of secretly functioning as one of Asia's largest transnational criminal organizations. Authorities allege that under Zhi's leadership, the firm oversaw dozens of forced labour compounds across Southeast Asia, where victims were lured with job promises in IT or administration but imprisoned and coerced into running pig butchering scams to repay fabricated debts.
These scams involve scammers cultivating fake online relationships to build trust, then persuading victims to invest in bogus cryptocurrency or investment platforms before absconding with the funds. The stolen money is laundered through a network of over 100 shell and holding companies worldwide, per a US Treasury Department release.
The arrest comes after intensified scrutiny. In October, the US Department of Justice's National Security Division filed a civil forfeiture complaint for 127,271 Bitcoin linked to Zhi, valued at about $15 billion then. That same day, the US and UK labeled Prince Group a transnational criminal organization. Later in October, the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control added 25 of Zhi's crypto wallet addresses to its sanctions list, holding around $780 million in Bitcoin.
In November, Prince Group issued a statement "categorically reject[ing] the notion that it or Zhi engaged in any unlawful activity."
Human rights reports underscore the operations' severity. A June Amnesty International report documented at least 53 such compounds in Cambodia alone, with victims describing experiences of slavery, human trafficking, child labour, and torture. Globally, pig butchering scams netted over $4 billion in 2024, up 40% from 2023, according to blockchain firm Chainalysis.
Zhi's detention is likely to hinder these illicit networks significantly.
