Prince Group (Chen Zhi)
A Cambodia-based conglomerate that U.S. prosecutors call one of Asia's largest transnational criminal organizations. Per an October 2025 DOJ indictment, founder Chen Zhi ran forced-labor compounds running 'pig-butchering' crypto investment scams; the DOJ seized ~127,271 BTC (~$15B) — its largest-ever forfeiture.
Also known as: Prince Group, Prince Holding Group, Chen Zhi, Vincent, Jin Bei Group, Byex Exchange
Note: Chen Zhi is charged and remains at large; the allegations below are from the DOJ indictment and have not been adjudicated.
Overview
Prince Holding Group (Prince Group) is a Cambodian conglomerate, founded and chaired by Chen Zhi (a.k.a. "Vincent"), that publicly presented itself as a real-estate, financial- and consumer-services business. According to an indictment unsealed in Brooklyn on October 14, 2025, Chen and top executives secretly built it into a transnational criminal organization operating at least ten "scam compounds" across Cambodia. [1][2]
Pig-butchering and forced labor
The DOJ alleges that workers — many trafficked and held against their will — were forced to run "pig-butchering" schemes: contacting victims online, building trust, and luring them into fake cryptocurrency investments that stole billions of dollars worldwide. Chen is charged with wire-fraud and money-laundering conspiracies. [1][2]
Record seizure
Alongside the indictment, the DOJ filed a civil forfeiture action against approximately 127,271 bitcoin — worth about $15 billion — described as the largest forfeiture action in DOJ history. The UK and US also sanctioned Prince Group and linked entities (e.g. Jin Bei Group, Byex Exchange). [1][2]
Bracketed numbers refer to the numbered sources listed below.
People & entities involved
Sources (2)
See also
- 2025 Czech government Bitcoin scandalOtherA political-corruption scandal in which the Czech Ministry of Justice, under minister Pavel Blažek, accepted a donation of 468 bitcoin (~$45M) in early 2025 from Tomáš Jiříkovský, a convicted darknet/drug figure, then sold part of it. After Deník N revealed the deal in May 2025, Blažek resigned, a criminal money-laundering investigation followed, and the government narrowly survived a no-confidence vote.
Evolved Apes (NFT)ProjectsAn NFT collection launched on OpenSea in September 2021 that promised a fighting game. About a week later its anonymous developer 'Evil Ape' vanished with 798 ETH (~$2.7M). In June 2024 U.S. prosecutors charged three U.K. nationals over the scheme.
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