The U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions against four individuals and 41 entities it says supported Prince Group, the Cambodian conglomerate accused of operating scam compounds where trafficked workers are forced to carry out crypto investment and romance fraud.
The Thursday announcement targeted offshore companies, nominee owners and administrators that Treasury alleges helped Prince Group executives hide assets and evade sanctions imposed in October 2025 and June 2026. Prince Group has denied the allegations.
Historical report: The original article was published on November 7, 2026, at 01:42:31 UTC+8.
Who Treasury targeted
The Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, designated Qiu Yong, whom Treasury says controls British Virgin Islands and Hong Kong companies on Prince Group’s behalf, including money lenders and wine businesses. Treasury also said Qiu had worked for a company controlled by Prince Group chairman Chen Zhi. Qiu’s personal assistant, Zhao Mengyao, was also sanctioned.
Two other individuals were targeted over alleged connections to Prince Group executive Chen Bo, who was sanctioned in June 2026:
- He Yujing, Chen Bo’s wife. According to Treasury, he transferred ownership of his Tokyo mansion to her after the October 2025 sanctions.
- Visal Pang, an associate whom Treasury says controls 11 Cambodian companies covering construction, logistics, a hotel and a “super app.”
OFAC also sanctioned 11 companies still controlled by Chen Bo, including Prince International Airlines and CB General Insurance. Other designations covered entities in Singapore, Mauritius and Malaysia linked to Prince Group associate Dai An, as well as 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. Treasury alleged that he led a scam network that used crypto and other technologies to defraud Americans of more than $400,000.
The wider Prince Group crackdown
The sanctions extend an enforcement effort involving asset seizures, freezes and criminal allegations—not just restrictions on crypto transactions.
The U.S. is seeking forfeiture of approximately $14 billion in Bitcoin tied to Prince Group. Decrypt reported the previous month that UK authorities had frozen Thet Li’s London penthouse.
According to BBC reporting cited in the article, Chen Zhi was arrested in Cambodia in January alongside two other Chinese nationals and extradited to China. Chinese state media described him as the head of a major cross-border gambling and fraud syndicate. Cambodia had revoked his citizenship the preceding month and also placed Prince Bank into liquidation.
Treasury said Thursday’s action was coordinated with the FBI, the Justice Department’s Scam Center Strike Force and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Alaska, with assistance from British Virgin Islands and UK authorities. The strike force had reported $580 million in crypto seizures and freezes.
What the figures do—and do not—show
The broader figures cited in the report describe different measures and should not be treated as one combined loss total:
- In September, Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network linked roughly $12.7 billion in reported financial activity to suspected crypto investment scams, largely associated with criminal organizations operating Southeast Asian scam compounds.
- In July, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime estimated that scam operations across East and Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand cost victims $88.3 billion to $114.1 billion in 2025. Much of that was attributed to crypto investment fraud run from compounds holding people from at least 80 countries.
Interpol had declared scam-compound networks a global threat the previous year, citing human trafficking, online fraud and coerced labor.
The central allegation behind the latest sanctions is that an international business network helped sustain Prince Group’s operations and conceal assets. The sanctions reflect Treasury’s findings and allegations; they do not establish every accusation as a proven criminal fact.