Cambodia: Prince Group denies allegations linking its chairman to running transnational organised crimes including scam operations after sanctions and indictment made by foreign govts.
BHRRC Southeast Asia
"Chen Zhi’s firm breaks silence, denies Cambodian tycoon’s empire built on scam money", 12 November 2025
A Cambodian conglomerate whose founder has had more than US$15 billion of allegedly ill-gotten assets seized said it “categorically rejects” claims he amassed his fortune running an internet scam empire.
A frenzy of asset confiscations in Europe, the United States and Asia has targeted Cambodia’s Prince Holding Group – with authorities alleging its founder Chen Zhi was running a transnational criminal organisation.
The US Justice Department in October unsealed an indictment against the tycoon, accusing him of presiding over forced labour camps in Cambodia where trafficked workers conduct online scams.
US investigators seized around US$15 billion worth of bitcoin they allege are criminal proceeds – the largest forfeiture action in the Justice Department’s history.
Britain also froze business and property assets worth more than US$130 million while Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong each swooped with national seizures as high as US$350 million.
“The Prince Group categorically rejects the notion that it or its chairman, Chen Zhi, has engaged in any unlawful activity,” the company said …
“The recent allegations are baseless and appear aimed at justifying the unlawful seizure of assets worth billions of dollars,” added the statement, the first by the company since the crackdown began.
“We are confident that when the facts come out, the Prince Group and its chairman will be fully exonerated.”
… The company said allegations against it “have caused undue harm to thousands of innocent employees, partners and communities who the group serves”.
But prosecutors accuse the company of being a corrosive influence – running elaborate online networks that target people with romance or business cons and launder the proceeds through cryptocurrency.
Cyber scam operations have mushroomed across Southeast Asia – often operating from unassuming office blocks or warehouses, where con artists target marks living on the other side of the world…