The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has just made crypto history, seizing an astonishing $15 billion in Bitcoin from an international hacking network. Touted as the largest forfeiture case ever, the operation exposes the vast reach of a “pig butchering” scam that preyed on unsuspecting victims across the globe. But who are the masterminds behind this criminal empire and how did they convince so many to hand over their digital fortunes?
DOJ cracks down on Cambodia’s shadow crime empire
The digital crime world just suffered a historic, multi-billion-dollar blow. The DOJ has announced the largest forfeiture action in its history: the seizure of an estimated $15 billion in Bitcoin. This massive cryptocurrency haul was found in wallets linked to the man accused of running a vast, global “pig butchering” fraud operation based in Cambodia, prosecutors confirmed Tuesday.
The alleged ringleader, Chen Zhi, was charged with wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies in an indictment recently unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn, New York. Zhi, a 38-year-old Chinese-born emigre also known as “Vincent,” currently remains at large, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, and faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted.
Court documents identify him as the founder and chairman of the Prince Holding Group, a sprawling, Cambodia-based multinational business that prosecutors claim grew “in secret …. into one of Asia’s largest transnational criminal organizations.” Prince Group allegedly operates businesses in more than 30 countries, with 10 scam compounds in Cambodia alone.
In a swift, parallel action, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Zhi and over 100 associated individuals and entities, officially designating the Prince Group as a transnational criminal organization.
How Prince Group’s ‘pig butchering scam’ preyed on victims worldwide
The indictment unsealed against Zhi reveals an organization built on a staggering scale of fraud and human exploitation. Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella stated unequivocally that Zhi “directed one of the largest investment fraud operations in history, fueling an illicit industry that is reaching epidemic proportions.”
This industry was characterized by devastating human and financial toll; Nocella explained that “Prince Group’s investment scams have caused billions of dollars in losses and untold misery to victims around the world, including here in New York, on the backs of individuals who have been trafficked and forced to work against their will.”
The scheme, known as “pig butchering” fraud, targeted victims contacted through social media and online messaging with false promises that their transferred cryptocurrency would be invested for profit. Before the theft, the release noted that the perpetrators often “built relationships with their victims over time, earning their trust before stealing their funds.” The investment was a lie; “In reality, the funds were stolen from the victims and laundered for the benefit of the perpetrators.”
Furthermore, prosecutors revealed the dark underside of the operation: hundreds of people were allegedly trafficked and confined within the scam compounds, where they were coerced into labor, “often under the threat of violence.”
Lastly, to safeguard their criminal enterprise, Zhi and his top network of Prince Group executives allegedly paid massive bribes to public officials and leveraged political influence in various countries to evade law enforcement intervention targeting the massive fraud scheme.
Source: CNBC