The Fed seized a record-breaking $15 billion in bitcoins from an alleged fraud empire
in the past For five years, criminals behind massive romance and investment scams – often called “pig butchering” – have stolen tens of billions of dollars from people around the world. Now law enforcement has launched one of its largest operations against the sprawling fraud industry, targeting the operators of several state-of-the-art fraud complexes in Southeast Asia – where hundreds of thousands of human-trafficking victims have been conned by criminal gangs.
On Tuesday, U.S. and U.K. authorities launched a coordinated crackdown on a Cambodian conglomerate and its boss who allegedly ran a string of notorious fraud centers in the country. The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced that it had issued financial sanctions against 146 “targets” linked to the newly designated transnational criminal organization Prince Group. This action involves targeting individuals and shell companies associated with the alleged criminal enterprise. As part of a broader crackdown that also includes the FBI, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) has also seized approximately 130,000 bitcoins worth around $15 billion at press time – the largest US cryptocurrency seizure to date.
OFAC says the organized crime entity Prince Group is comprised of Prince Holding Group, a Cambodia-based company, its president and CEO Chen Xi, and his associates and business partners. Publicly, the company describes itself as “one of the largest conglomerates in Cambodia” and says it is involved in real estate development and financial services. However, the Justice Department alleges that Chen and other executives “covertly” “turned the Prince Group into one of Asia’s largest transnational criminal organizations” and operated at least 10 fraud complexes throughout Cambodia.
Joseph Nosella Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement: “As alleged, the defendant directed one of the largest investment fraud operations in history and fueled an illegal industry reaching epidemic proportions.” Prince’s investment scams have caused billions of dollars in losses and untold misery to victims around the world. The Justice Department says Chen has not been arrested and remains at large.
British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said in a statement: “The people behind these horrific scams are ruining the lives of vulnerable people and buying houses in London to stash their money.” Britain also imposed financial sanctions on Chen, the Prince Group and other related entities. The UK sanctions also “aggregate” businesses and properties linked to Chen in London, including a 12 million pound ($16 million) mansion in north London and a 100 million pound ($133 million) office building in the City of London.
A wired email to the address listed as the media contact on the Prince Holdings Group website was immediately returned.
