Anatomy of a scam empire: Brains and businesses behind Chen Zhi’s network centred in Cambodia
The Business Times unravels the tangled web of sanctioned collaborators, accused associates and entities, using Handshakes data
Goh Ruoxue &
Teoh Yi Chie
[SINGAPORE] In one of the largest financial fraud takedowns in history, the US in October 2025 slapped 17 individuals and 128 entities from nine territories with sanctions for their alleged links to accused scam kingpin Chen Zhi and his network.
Some US$15 billion in Bitcoin was seized by its Justice Department under the largest forfeiture action in its history.
The US authorities claimed that the 38-year-old mastermind – who has since been extradited to China following his arrest – grew his multinational conglomerate Prince Holding Group with his top executives into one of Asia’s largest transnational criminal organisations.
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