Chen Zhi's story: his assets were confiscated by the US, and he was arrested and brought back to China.

Author: CoolFish Source: X, @kricspan

"There's a saying in Cambodia: 'Even a penny falling from the sky belongs to the Prince Group.'" This is a comment from a Cambodian netizen. This may be an exaggeration, but it gives us a glimpse into the power of the Prince Group in Cambodia.

However, with the crackdown by multiple countries, this "house of cards" built on bones and fraud collapsed.

On January 7th, according to the Cambodia-China Times, Prince Group boss Chen Zhi was arrested in Cambodia and has been extradited to China for investigation by relevant departments.

This "business prodigy," who once traveled with a fleet of luxury cars and private jets, even laundering money by purchasing Picasso paintings, ultimately could not escape the clutches of the law.

Last October, the U.S. Department of Justice indicted Chen Zhi for orchestrating online fraud, causing billions of dollars in losses to victims worldwide, and announced the seizure of over $14 billion worth of Bitcoin. Huione Group, located in Cambodia, was identified as the primary money laundering entity in this operation. As a result, this financial giant, known as the "Cambodia Alipay," ceased operations, with notices of "Suspension of Withdrawals" posted on its doors. I. Chen Zhi – A short man with a large forehead, speaking with a Fujian accent. Chen Zhi's story begins in Xiao'ao Town, Lianjiang County, Fuzhou City, Fujian Province. His family was of modest means, and their economic level was considered middle-class in Lianjiang County. Before going to Cambodia, he worked as a network administrator in China, with various accounts of the specifics. Some fellow villagers claimed he worked as a network administrator in internet cafes in Guangdong and Jiangsu for 2-3 years, and later engaged in data trading and transmission, as well as running dating and gaming websites. It's said he also capitalized on the popularity of the online game "Legend of Mir" by forming a team to build a private server (pirated server) and earn his first fortune. According to the website of DW Capital Holdings, a Singaporean fund management company in which he personally invested, Chen Zhi is described as "a young business prodigy." In 2011, Chen Zhi entered the Cambodian real estate market, developing "unknown waters." He then gradually expanded his business, establishing the Prince Holding Group. Netizens in Fujian commented that many people from his hometown believe that if he hadn't been involved in "European and American speculative trading," he wouldn't have run into trouble so quickly. Locals couldn't pinpoint the exact year Chen Zhi went to Cambodia, but they all "knew he was involved in fraud." "People like him should have been arrested long ago." II. Not operating in the European and American markets, he wouldn't have gotten into trouble so quickly. The US Department of Justice's indictment describes Chen Zhi's group as a "criminal empire built on forced labor and fraud." "This is a criminal organization built on the suffering of others. Trafficked laborers were imprisoned in prison-like parks and forced to engage in industrial-scale online fraud, causing losses to thousands of victims worldwide." The documents show that since approximately 2015, Chen Zhi established and operated at least ten fraud parks throughout Cambodia. These parks, surrounded by high walls and barbed wire, housed thousands of cross-border workers seeking employment who were trafficked there and forced to carry out large-scale online scams under threats of violence. The indictment specifically names three parks: Jinbei Park, Jinyun Compound, and Jinhong Park. The defendant, Chen Zhi, was directly involved in the management of these fraudulent parks and maintained records related to each park, including ledgers tracking profits and detailed records of which rooms were running which scams. For example, the parks featured "cell phone walls"—comprised of thousands of cell phones and millions of mobile phone numbers—facilitating various scams.

Furthermore, the indictment also points out that Chen Zhi directly participated in the violence against people in forced labor camps and possessed video evidence of the Prince Group's use of violence, including photos depicting beatings and other forms of torture.

The defendant directly communicated with his subordinates, instructing them to beat those who "caused trouble." In one case, he even explicitly instructed that the victim should not be "beaten to death." (Image can be found in the indictment)

In 2015, he founded the Prince Group, which later expanded into various sectors such as banking, finance, and tourism, becoming one of Cambodia's largest conglomerates.

In conclusion, prior to the joint accusations from the UK and the US, China had already taken action against Chen Zhi's gang. In 2020, the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau established the "5.27 Special Task Force" to investigate the "Cambodian Prince Group's massive cross-border online gambling crime syndicate." In 2023, the Wangcang County Court in Sichuan Province tried a major cross-border online casino case. The individuals involved were found to have partnered with stakeholders of the Prince Group to operate online gambling companies targeting Chinese citizens, with the amount involved exceeding 5 billion yuan. With Chen Zhi's arrest and return to China for investigation, the once-arrogant "Prince" empire finally came to an end. As a common saying in police dramas goes: Justice may be delayed, but it is never absent before the final judgment.