Key Highlights
- Cambodian police arrested Prince Holding Group Chairman Chen Zhi on January 6, 2026; he was extradited to Beijing the next day after his Cambodian citizenship was revoked, thwarting U.S. extradition efforts.
- In October 2025, the DOJ seized 127,271 BTC (≈$15B then, lower now) from wallets linked to Chen’s alleged “pig butchering” scams, marking the largest crypto forfeiture in U.S. history.
- Chen faces trial in China, stalling the U.S. criminal case. His lawyers challenge the forfeiture; the Bitcoin remains held, potentially for victim restitution or government use.
When Cambodian police swooped in on January 6, 2026, and bundled Chen Zhi onto a flight to Beijing the next day, the move closed one chapter in a sprawling international fraud case while leaving another wide open: the fate of 127,271 Bitcoin now sitting in U.S. government wallets.
The 38-year-old Prince Holding Group Chairman, once a fixture in Cambodian business circles with interests spanning real estate to online gambling, stands accused of turning parts of his empire into hubs for “pig butchering” scams—as claimed in a latest Bloomberg report.
Victims worldwide were romanced online, then steered into bogus crypto investments that funneled billions into wallets Chen controlled. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) unsealed charges against him in October 2025, calling the operation one of Asia’s largest transnational criminal networks.
Chen Zhi’s debatable extradition
Cambodia’s Interior Ministry described the arrest as the result of a joint probe with Chinese authorities into cross-border crime. Chen, who had acquired Cambodian citizenship years earlier, saw that passport revoked just before the handover. State media in Beijing broadcast grainy footage of him arriving hooded and cuffed, labeling him the ringleader of a vast fraud and illegal gambling syndicate.
The decision to send him east rather than west frustrated U.S. officials who had sought his extradition on wire fraud and money laundering counts. In this episode, regional dynamics played a crucial role: mounting pressure from Thailand’s border crackdowns on scam sites, asset freezes in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea, while sanctions from Washington and London on Prince Group and 146 linked entities.
Beijing’s long-standing interest in Chen ultimately prevailed, underscoring Phnom Penh’s deepening alignment with its northern neighbor. To note, the Chinese police had tracked his activities since at least 2020.
Chen now faces prosecution in China, where authorities have signaled a focus on domestic fraud and gambling charges. His transfer left the U.S. criminal case in limbo, with no immediate prospect of him appearing in Brooklyn federal court.
The multi-billion dollar Bitcoin stash in seizure
The real prize remains the cryptocurrency haul. In the same October 2025 announcement, the DOJ declared it had taken custody of 127,271 BTC, valued then at roughly $15 billion, describing the coins as direct proceeds and tools of the alleged scams.
Prosecutors said the Bitcoin sat in unhosted wallets whose private keys Chen once held; exactly how U.S. agents obtained control remains undisclosed, though Chinese outlets have claimed earlier hacking by American operatives.
The seizure marked the largest forfeiture in DOJ history, dwarfing previous crypto actions. Market volatility has since shaved the stash’s value—Bitcoin currently trades around $70,000—to nearly $9 billion, but it still represents a massive pool potentially earmarked for victim restitution or government coffers.
In New York, Chen’s defense team from Boies Schiller Flexner has fired back, filing a motion to dismiss the civil forfeiture. They call the government’s links between the specific coins and proven fraud “plainly wrong,” challenging timelines, wallet origins, and evidence of laundering. The fight tests U.S. ability to hold overseas-linked crypto assets when the alleged mastermind is beyond reach.
For victims spread across the U.S., Russia, Taiwan, and beyond, the 127,271 BTC stands as both a symbol of accountability and a reminder of how far-flung the chase remains.
Also read: DOJ Examines $1B+ Iran-Linked Crypto Transfers on Binance
