By CoinEpigraph Editorial Desk | October 15, 2025
U.S. authorities have seized roughly $15 billion in bitcoin and unsealed charges against a Cambodian tycoon accused of masterminding a sprawling cyber-fraud and forced-labor enterprise that relied on so-called “pig butchering” scams to siphon funds from victims worldwide. Prosecutors say the seizure—equal to 127,271 BTC—is the largest financial forfeiture action in U.S. history.
The Justice Department identified the alleged ringleader as Chen Zhi, chairman of Cambodia’s Prince Group, who is charged with wire-fraud conspiracy and money-laundering offenses. Chen remains at large. According to investigators, his network operated scam compounds in Cambodia where trafficked workers—many lured by false job ads—were detained and coerced to run romance-and-investment frauds that funneled crypto to wallets controlled by the organization.
Officials say the operation generated tens of millions of dollars per day at its peak, funding a luxury lifestyle that included yachts, private aviation, and high-end art—while workers faced beatings, isolation, and other abuses if they failed to meet quotas.
The takedown is part of a coordinated U.S.–U.K. action that pairs the American forfeiture with sweeping sanctions. The U.S. Treasury designated the Prince Group network a transnational criminal organization, and U.K. authorities issued property freezes, including a slate of London real-estate assets. Treasury also highlighted a related laundering hub moving billions in illicit funds through Southeast Asia’s scam economy.
A new enforcement playbook
The case underscores how law enforcement is fusing criminal seizure, sanctions, and multi-jurisdictional pressure to disrupt crypto-enabled crime. The DOJ described the action as a culmination of an 18-month probe into romance/investment “pig butchering” schemes, which have proliferated since 2020 and increasingly exploit AI-driven identity fabrication to fool victims.
While the seizure is historic, officials caution that the ecosystem is resilient. Analysts say Cambodia’s scam compounds are entwined with broader regional networks, and similar operations extend into Laos and Myanmar. For trafficked workers—often stranded without passports—the humanitarian crisis persists even as top-level financiers face charges.
Why it matters to crypto markets
For crypto investors, the headline number is striking: $15B in BTC isolated from circulation. Authorities say the bitcoin was held in unhosted wallets controlled by the network, improving the government’s leverage to preserve assets pending forfeiture and restitution. The asset freeze may reduce immediate liquidation risk versus exchange-based seizures, but any future disposition—auction or otherwise—could influence market microstructure.
The case also challenges a persistent misconception: that crypto is “un-policeable.” In practice, on-chain transparency aided by forensic partners enabled attribution, chain-hopping reconstruction, and wallet-cluster mapping. Chainalysis noted the network’s ties to bitcoin mining and laundering channels, adding to the evidentiary trail.
Regulatory and compliance signals
Regulators are pairing asset seizures with sanctions against facilitators—exchanges, OTC desks, payment intermediaries, and shell companies. Treasury’s action showcases how secondary nodes (including financial and real-estate conduits) become targets when they enable large-scale scam economies. Compliance teams should anticipate expanded customer and counterparty screening and closer scrutiny of flows touching Southeast Asia.
👉 “The CoinEpigraph Bottom Line”
The U.S.-led action marks a turning point: unprecedented scale, synchronized sanctions, and a focus on the human-trafficking engine behind “pig butchering.” Whether it dents the region’s cyber-fraud economy will depend on follow-through—arrests, repatriation of victims, and pressure on local elites—yet the signal is unmistakable: large, coordinated crypto-crime rings face escalating global risk.
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