In brief
- The U.S. Treasury sanctioned four individuals and 41 entities it says support Prince Group, a Cambodian conglomerate accused of running crypto scam compounds.
- The targets include Hong Kong and British Virgin Islands companies and the wife of a Prince Group executive, who allegedly received his Tokyo mansion.
- Treasury also sanctioned a Malaysian man who it said ran a Madagascar-based scam network that defrauded Americans of more than $400,000 in crypto.
The U.S. Treasury Department has sanctioned four individuals and 41 entities that it says support Prince Group, the Cambodian conglomerate accused of running scam compounds that use trafficked workers to defraud victims through crypto investment and romance scams.
The new designations, announced on Thursday by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), target the offshore companies, nominee owners and administrators that Treasury says have helped Prince Group executives conceal assets and evade earlier sanctions imposed in October 2025 and June 2026.
→"Cyber scam syndicates continue to steal billions of dollars from American victims while relying on sophisticated international business networks to launder their illicit proceeds," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.
Among those sanctioned is Qiu Yong, who Treasury said controls a network of British Virgin Islands and Hong Kong companies on behalf of Prince Group, including money lenders and wine businesses, and who has worked for a company controlled by Prince Group chairman Chen Zhi. His personal assistant, Zhao Mengyao, was also designated.
OFAC also targeted two people it said are holding property for, or running companies with, Prince Group executive Chen Bo, who was sanctioned in June. They include his wife, He Yujing, to whom Chen Bo transferred ownership of his Tokyo mansion after the October 2025 sanctions, according to Treasury, and associate Visal Pang, who controls 11 Cambodian companies spanning construction, logistics, a hotel and a "super app." Eleven companies still controlled by Chen Bo were also sanctioned, including Prince International Airlines and CB General Insurance.
Further entities in Singapore, Mauritius and Malaysia were sanctioned for links to Prince Group associate Dai An, along with a Singapore media company owned by alleged Prince Group finance chief Thet Li.
Separately, OFAC designated Chui Kok Wa, a Malaysian national based in Madagascar, who Treasury said led a network of scammers that used crypto and other technologies to defraud Americans of more than $400,000.
The Prince Group crackdown
The U.S. is seeking the forfeiture of about $14 billion in Bitcoin tied to Prince Group, while UK authorities have frozen the London penthouse of Thet Li, Decrypt reported last month. Prince Group has denied the allegations.
Chen Zhi himself was arrested in Cambodia in January along with two other Chinese nationals and extradited to China, where state media described him as the head of a major cross-border gambling and fraud syndicate, the BBC reported. Cambodia, which had revoked his citizenship the month before, also placed the group's Prince Bank into liquidation.
Thursday's action was coordinated with the FBI, the Justice Department's Scam Center Strike Force, which has reported $580 million in crypto seizures and freezes, and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Alaska, with help from authorities in the British Virgin Islands and the UK, according to Treasury.
Interpol declared scam compound networks a global threat last year, citing their use of human trafficking, online fraud and coerced labor. In September, the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network linked about $12.7 billion in reported financial activity to suspected crypto investment scams, largely run by criminal organizations operating scam compounds in Southeast Asia.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime estimated in July that scam operations across East and Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand cost victims between $88.3 billion and $114.1 billion in 2025, much of it through crypto investment fraud run from compounds holding people from at least 80 countries.
Daily Debrief Newsletter
Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.
Join 72,000+ readers