Chen Zhi - or Vincent - is becoming a symbol of failed security oversight in the UK after the UK and US announced historic sanctions targeting Prince Group, a group he runs.
The 37-year-old scammer has built a "safe island" right in the middle of London for 5 years, operating and deploying an international criminal network worth tens of billions of USD that the authorities do not know about.
Investment visa opens "golden door" for Chen Zhi
Notably, while the US has rejected the visas of Chen Zhi and many colleagues due to security risks, the UK is different. The Tier 1 investment visa program, which has been criticized for being too profitable, has become a "golden door" for Prince Group.
Cliff Teo, a former executive assistant for Chen Zhi's offshore companies (foreign-owned lining companies) for seven years, said the scammers chose London because it was the "safeest place for Beijing to tighten".
Cliff Teo described the UK as very in need of money in the post- Brexit period, creating conditions for Prince Group to get a right to residence in a short time.
The UK's granting of residence permits to both Chen Zhi's first and second families shows how easy it is to make, which security today question.
Buying a £94 million building near the Bank of England
After arriving in London (from around 2018-2020), Chen Zhi began a large-scale property buying campaign. The highlight is the £94 million commercial building (about $120 million at the current exchange rate) on fenchurch Street, just a few minutes' walk from the Bank of England - the area with the largest concentration of financial institutions in Europe.
Chen Zhi then continued to spend £12 million to buy and renovate a villa in St John's Wood, one of London's most expensive residential areas. When The Times reporter arrived after the sanctions, the lights were still on and the car was still parked in the yard - where Cliff Teo confirmed it was home to Chen Zhi and his two children.
A lover and Chen Zhi's stepchild also lived in London to facilitate children's education - showing that this city was truly his "base".
The most shocking detail is Qiu Wei Ren, Chen Zhi's cousin, buying 17 apartments worth £26 million, including 7 apartments in a location directly opposite the US Embassy in Nine Elms.
The billion-dollar crime regime operates right in the heart of London
While Chen Zhi lives a lavish life in the UK, Prince Group is accused of operating a global online fraud network, forcing labor, torturing and laundering money to the extent that US authorities have described it as unprecedented.
The $13 billion worth of Bitcoin seized last month, according to the US Treasury Department, is not so much as the real value of the network that Chen Zhi once boasted of being $60 billion - many times the assets of Latino drug lords.
It is worth mentioning that all of this happened while Chen Zhi lived in central London, owned huge fortunes, registered a series of covert companies, and was rarely scrutinized by the British security agency.
The US and UK sanctions on October 14, 2025 are seen as the first major blow to Prince Group. The Isle of Man office has been searched since March, but Chen Zhi still left the UK by air on the same day - a sign that UK authorities may not have really kept up with the pace of the network.
Although he has fled London, Chen Zhi is considered unlikely to disappear completely. They will take a break for a while and then return, cliff Teo warned.
While investigations continue, the case of Chen Zhi has become a strong reminder of the security vulnerability he faces: a scammers who build a billion-dollar empire right before their eyes, just because the doors to immigration and investment are too easy to make a profit.
