A press release on January 7 from the Cambodian Ministry of Interior said that Chen Zhi and two other Chinese citizens were arrested and extradited on January 6 after months of investigation and at the request of the Chinese government. Chen Zhi - of dual Chinese origin - was stripped of Cambodian citizenship in December.
Chen Zhi - Chairman of Prince Holding Group of Cambodia - was accused by the US Treasury Department and the British Foreign Office in October of leading a transnational criminal network that defrauds victims around the world and exploits labor and human trafficking.
Scammer centers have mushroomed throughout Southeast Asia, taking away victims' money by enticing them to participate in fake investment plans. According to estimates by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, scam victims worldwide lost from 18-37 billion USD in 2023.
The US and Britain have imposed sanctions on Chen Zhi, 38, and his companies, mainly operating in the real estate and financial services development sectors.
US authorities seized about 14 billion USD of Bitcoin related to Chen Zhi or his activities, and charged him with online fraud and money laundering conspiracy.
Chen Zhi is also accused of tolerating violence against workers, allowing bribery of foreign officials and using his other businesses, such as online gambling and cryptocurrency mining, to illegally launder money.
Prosecutors in the US accuse Chen Zhi's organization of defrauding 250 Americans of millions of USD, of which one lost up to 400,000 USD in cryptocurrency. According to the US Treasury Department, in 2024, Americans lost at least 10 billion USD due to scams from Southeast Asia.
The federal prosecutor's office in Brooklyn, where Chen Zhi was prosecuted, has not made an immediate comment on the extradition. Chen Zhi and Prince Corporation deny any wrongdoing.
The Chinese government has also not made immediate comments on the extradition of Chen Zhi and two other individuals named by the Cambodian Ministry of Interior, Xu Ji Liang and Shao Ji Hui.
In addition to the Bitcoins confiscated by the US government, the British government also frozen Chen Zhi's businesses and assets in the UK, including a 12 million euro villa and a 100 million euro office building in London. Other assets were also confiscated in Singapore, Taiwan (China) and Hong Kong (China).
Cybercrime has developed strongly in Southeast Asia, where law enforcement is still weak, especially in Cambodia and Myanmar, with casinos often playing a central role in criminal activities.
Trafficked foreigners have been used to run "love" scams and cryptocurrency, often recruited with fake job offers and then forced to work in near-slave conditions.
The US indictment against Chen Zhi accuses Prince Holding Group of building at least 10 complexes in Cambodia.
