Three months ago, we wrote about a record $225 million cryptocurrency seizure by the U.S. Secret Service connected to a “pig butchering” scheme. That amount pales in comparison to the U.S. Department of Justice’s announcement on October 14, 2025 that it had filed a civil forfeiture complaint against approximately 127,271 Bitcoin (the cryptocurrency defendant in the case), which are presently in the custody of the U.S. government. Using the current Bitcoin price, the value is approximately $15 billion, making this the largest forfeiture action in the history of the DOJ.
The forfeiture complaint was accompanied by a criminal indictment against Chen Zhi (also known as Vincent) the founder and chairman of Prince Holding Group, a multinational business conglomerate based in Cambodia. Chen is alleged to be the mastermind behind a pig-butchering scheme carried out by individuals who were trafficked and held against their will in forced-labor compounds, described as prison-like, with barbed wire, dormitories, and torture rooms.
“Pig butchering,” or “Sha Zhu Pan” in Chinese, is a long-con investment fraud where criminals build fake romantic or business relationships with their targets over weeks or even months. The “pig” refers to the victim, who is “fattened” with fabricated trust and promises of high returns before being “butchered,” or stripped of their assets. Once a relationship is established, the scammers subtly introduce the idea of a lucrative cryptocurrency investment, often directing victims to sophisticated, yet entirely fraudulent, trading platforms. Victims are initially encouraged to invest small amounts, which may even show fabricated profits, to build confidence. As trust deepens, victims are manipulated into investing increasingly larger sums, often their life savings, until suddenly, all access to their funds is cut off.
Prince Holding Group is a Cambodian corporate conglomerate that operates dozens of business entities in more than 30 countries, ostensibly in the business of real estate development, financial services, and consumer services. In secret, though, according to the DOJ, the defendant and his top executives grew Prince Holding Group into one of Asia’s largest transnational criminal organizations.
The graphic details are set forth in the complaint and the indictment. The scope of the enterprise can be seen from the following excerpt from the press release issued by U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York:
Prince Group carried out these schemes by trafficking hundreds of workers and forcing them to work in compounds in Cambodia and execute the scams, often under the threat of violence. The compounds housed vast dormitories surrounded by high walls and barbed wire, and functioned as violent forced labor camps. The defendant was directly involved in managing the scam compounds and maintained records associated with each one, including ledgers tracking profits and which fraudulent schemes were run out of which rooms. The defendant also maintained documents describing and depicting “phone farms” at the compounds: automated call centers that used thousands of phones and millions of mobile telephone numbers to facilitate the various fraudulent schemes. The defendant was directly involved in using violence against the individuals within the forced labor camps and possessed images of Prince Group’s violent methods, including photographs depicting beatings and other methods of torture. The defendant communicated directly with his subordinates about beating individuals who “caused trouble,” in one case specifying that the victims should not be “beaten to death.”
The Prince Group allegedly targeted victims around the world, assisted by local networks. This included a group in Brooklyn that laundered millions of dollars from more than 250 victims.
It is also alleged that, in furtherance of these schemes, the defendant and a close network of Prince Group’s top executives used their political influence in multiple foreign countries to protect their criminal enterprise and paid bribes to public officials to avoid disruption by law enforcement. They subsequently laundered the proceeds of the fraudulent schemes through professional money laundering operations and through Prince Group’s own network of ostensibly legal business enterprises, including its online gambling and cryptocurrency mining operations
The U.S. Treasury Department designated Prince Holding Group as a transnational criminal organization, and imposed sanctions on 146 individuals and entities linked to the group. The UK government issued parallel sanctions, targeting affiliated companies such as Jin Bei Group, Byex Exchange, and Huione Group, which were allegedly used to launder stolen funds.
These twin cases are significant for several reasons. First, the indictment shines a spotlight on the intersection of human trafficking and cybercrime, revealing how criminal enterprises exploit vulnerable individuals to perpetrate global financial fraud. The use of forced labor in scam compounds represents a chilling evolution in organized crime.
Second, the cases highlight how unhosted wallets and decentralized platforms can be exploited for illicit purposes, but also shows how law enforcement can still trace and seize digital assets. Indeed, the $15 billion forfeiture and coordinated international sanctions demonstrate a unified global response to transnational financial crime and shows how governments can leverage blockchain transparency and international cooperation to dismantle criminal networks.
Third, while it remains unclear how the seized Bitcoin will be used, the scale of the forfeiture raises hopes for victim compensation. The DOJ’s action sends a strong message that perpetrators of online scams will be pursued and held accountable.
Finally, Prince Holding Group, once seen as a legitimate conglomerate in real estate and finance, has been exposed as a front for criminal activity. This raises questions about corporate governance, due diligence, and the role of financial institutions in enabling or failing to detect such schemes.
