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Crypto Scam Kingpin Behind $15B Bitcoin Seizure Deported to China — What Happens Next?

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Chinese authorities have taken custody of Chen Zhi, the businessman on the middle of what U.S. officers describe as one of many largest crypto rip-off and cash laundering operations ever uncovered.

The transfer locations the alleged kingpin behind a multibillion-dollar “pig butchering” community immediately into China’s legal justice system, elevating questions on how Beijing will prosecute one of the crucial complicated transnational crypto circumstances to date.

Cambodia Hands Over Chen Zhi After Revoking Citizenship

Cambodia China Times and statements from Cambodia’s Ministry of Interior stated that Chen Zhi, together with two associates, Xu Ji Liang and Shao Ji Hui, was arrested on January 6 following months of joint investigations by Cambodian and Chinese authorities.

Beijing had desired the three to be deported to China. According to Cambodian authorities, the operation was performed as a bilateral cooperation settlement that concerned transnational crime.

In December 2025, Chen had already been eliminated because the royal decree had revoked his Cambodian citizenship, paving the way in which.

Chen, 38, has been the chairman and founding father of Prince Group, a conglomerate that began its operations in Cambodia within the 12 months 2015 and has pursuits in actual property, finance, and hospitality.

Although the corporate was publicly a authentic regional firm, U.S. and U.Okay. authorities have alleged that it was a canopy to facilitate an enormous legal community, which they declare was developed via on-line frauds, cash laundering, and compelled labor.

Prince Group has refuted all of the allegations.

The deportation is feasible after the enforcement efforts by the United States in October, when the federal prosecutors sought to seize over 127,000 bitcoin they claimed was tied to wallets operated by Chen and his community.

By that time, the Bitcoin was price roughly 15 billion {dollars}, which is the most important cryptocurrency seizure to date related to the usage of on-line fraud.

The U.S. Treasury and the U.Okay. authorities had collectively described Prince Group as a transnational legal group, and U.S. sanctions had been prolonged to dozens of crypto wallets containing tons of of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in Bitcoin.

After Deportation, Chinese Courts Set to Handle Global Crypto Fraud Case

The schemes, generally generally known as pig-butchering scams, concerned constructing belief with victims earlier than directing them to faux crypto buying and selling platforms.

Once funds had been deposited, the platforms disappeared. Investigators say the proceeds had been funneled via greater than 100 shell firms, crypto exchanges, and mining operations earlier than being consolidated into personal Bitcoin wallets.

The case now takes a brand new flip with Chen being again in China. The Chinese legislation allows the authorities to prosecute the residents in case a severe crime was dedicated overseas, particularly when it handled an enormous fraud, cash laundering, and human trafficking.

Even although the official fees should not but declared, Chinese courts up to now have sentenced very harshly in comparable circumstances, comparable to life imprisonment, and in excessive circumstances involving violence or pressured labor, the dying penalty.

Asset forfeiture can also be anticipated by the Chinese authorities. Coordination with international governments is probably going, on condition that U.S. officers have already seized billions of {dollars} in Bitcoin related to the case.

Those belongings may in the end be used for sufferer compensation if courts approve such measures.

The arrest comes amid a broader world crackdown on crypto-enabled fraud networks working throughout Southeast Asia.

Over the previous 12 months, regulators and legislation enforcement companies have labored with major crypto firms to freeze and recover illicit funds.

Tether, Binance, Coinbase, and blockchain analytics companies have all assisted in tracing and blocking belongings tied to pig-butchering scams.

U.S. knowledge reveals reported losses from these schemes reached $3.6 billion in 2024, displaying their rising scale.

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