Authorities in Singapore and Taiwan say they have identified more than US$700 million worth of assets and illicit funds — a far larger sum than previously known — linked to Prince Group, founder Chen Zhi and others accused of running a transnational crime syndicate.
The Taipei District Prosecutors Office said on Wednesday that it has concluded its investigation into cases involving Cambodia-based Prince Group, which the UK and US labelled as a criminal organisation and sanctioned in October.
The local investigation uncovered NT$10.7 billion (US$337 million) in laundered funds, most of which entered Taiwan through foreign currency remittances from 2016 to 2025, it said.
Singapore police separately said they had seized or prohibited the disposal of S$500 million (US$391 million) in assets — including cars, properties, luxury bags, watches and financial accounts — in this case, up from a previous S$150 million reported.
The latest discoveries take the total sum that Asian authorities have identified or seized in relation to Chen and Prince Group to more than $1 billion, according to Bloomberg’s calculations.
Chen, a 38-year-old China-born businessman, his associates and companies under his Prince Group were sanctioned by the US and UK for allegedly operating a global scam network that authorities said bilked victims worldwide of billions of dollars and laundered the proceeds.
US prosecutors also indicted Chen, who they alleged was the mastermind behind a sprawling cyber fraud empire, and seized bitcoin worth about $15 billion at the time.
Cambodian authorities in early January arrested Chen after stripping him of his citizenship, and extradited him to China. Prince Group has denied the US and UK allegations, called them baseless and said they were an attempt to justify “the unlawful seizure of assets worth billions of dollars”.
Taiwanese prosecutors said they are indicting 62 individuals and 13 companies related to Prince Group, including Chen and his associates from Singapore and Taiwan, and recommending fines and jail time for most of them. They said the scale of the alleged crimes and the harm caused were “exceptionally severe.”
Of the laundered funds they identified, the prosecutors have seized assets valued at over NT$5.5 billion. They include 24 real estate properties, 35 luxury vehicles and 337 bank accounts, in addition to cash and luxury goods. Some of the confiscated sports cars were publicly auctioned in Taipei earlier this week.
The prosecutors also shed more light on how funds were allegedly laundered. A network of companies in jurisdictions — including Thailand, Japan, the Marshall Islands, Seychelles and the Isle of Man — were used to open so-called offshore business unit accounts, and money transfers and loans were falsely labelled as lease payments or service contracts, they said.
Singapore police have so far arrested three Singaporeans in connection with the case, and said investigations are ongoing. They have issued an arrest warrant for a fourth person, Karen Chen Xiuling, who they said is believed to be currently in Cambodia.
Karen Chen was the chief financial officer for Chen Zhi’s Singapore family office. She was among those sanctioned by the US, and is also one of the individuals Taiwan is indicting.
