DOJ Files Record $15 Billion Bitcoin Seizure Against Prince Group Chairman Over Pig Butchering Scams

The U.S. Department of Justice has unsealed an indictment against Chen Zhi, also known as Vincent, a 37-year-old UK and Cambodian national and the founder and chairman of Prince Holding Group.

Zhi is charged with wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy for directing Prince Group’s operation of forced-labour scam compounds across Cambodia that carried out large-scale cryptocurrency investment fraud schemes, known as “pig butchering” scams, with the DOJ estimating these schemes stole billions of dollars from victims worldwide. Alongside the indictment, the DOJ and the U.S.

Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York filed a civil forfeiture complaint against approximately 127,271 Bitcoin, valued at $15 billion USD, believed to be the proceeds of the criminal activity. The seizure marks the largest forfeiture action in the history of the Department of Justice, according to the Department of Justice, and the cryptocurrency was stored in unhosted wallets controlled by Zhi.

Since 2015, Prince Group has grown into a 30-country conglomerate, though prosecutors say it operated as one of Asia’s largest transnational criminal organisations, with trafficking and laundering operations including a Brooklyn, New York, cell. If convicted, Zhi faces a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison.