The Chinese-born tycoon Chen Zhi, accused of running online scam centres that used trafficked workers in Cambodia to defraud people around the world of billions of dollars, has been arrested in Cambodia and extradited to China, Phnom Penh said on Wednesday.
Cambodian authorities “have arrested three Chinese nationals, namely Chen Zhi, Xu Ji Liang, and Shao Ji Hui and extradited them to the People’s Republic of China”, the Ministry of the Interior said in a statement.
The operation was carried out on Tuesday “within the scope of cooperation in combating transnational crime” and according to a request from Chinese authorities, it added.
The ministry also said that Chen Zhi’s Cambodian nationality was revoked by royal decree in December.
Minister of Information Neth Pheaktra said the arrests followed several months of cooperation between Cambodian and Chinese law enforcement authorities.
US and UK authorities had earlier sanctioned China-born Chen, 38. Washington unsealed an indictment in October against Chen for his role in defrauding thousands of Americans and masterminding a sophisticated money-laundering operation.
US authorities also seized 127,271 bitcoin — worth about $12 billion at current prices — from Chen’s Prince Group business empire in what prosecutors described as the largest such forfeiture in US history.
Thai authorities are continuing to investigate whether Chen or any Prince Group-related entities held assets in Thailand, which would be subject to seizure should criminal activity be proven.
Born in Fujian in 1987, Chen began his career at a small online gaming company before moving to Cambodia after 2010, where he quickly entered the burgeoning real estate sector. He renounced his Chinese citizenship and became a Cambodian citizen in 2014.
Reports later began to emerge that a technology park run by Prince Group in Sihanoukville was suspected of being a fraud operation, surrounded by high walls and barbed wire, where thousands were lured with attractive job offers and forced to participate in online scams.
In November last year, Hong Kong police froze US$350 million belonging to a suspected multinational money laundering syndicate, with sources saying the syndicate is linked to Chen.
Taiwanese authorities also froze $145 million in assets belonging to Prince Group, including 26 luxury cars.
Previously unreported Chinese criminal court judgements dating from 2020 to 2022 describe Prince Group as a “notorious transnational online gambling criminal group” that has generated at least 5 billion yuan ($700 million) in illicit revenue.
In May 2020, Beijing police established a special task force to investigate the Prince Group, court records show.
Since then, there have been at least seven judgements from separate Chinese provincial courts convicting low-level Prince or Prince-linked employees of gambling and money laundering offences.
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